;  i, 


UC-NRLF 


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Mari^  hot^tto  Lilly 


THE  GEORGIG 


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Supplementary  Series: 
STUDIES    IN"    ENGLISH    PHILOLOGY 

Edited  by  James  W.  Bright 
=^==^         Number  6         ==^= 


THE   GEORGIC 


A  CONTRIBUTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  THE 
VERGILIAN  TYPE  OF  DIDACTIC  POETRY 


BY 


MARIE  LORETTO  LILLY,  Ph.  D., 

Sometime   Fellow   of    the   Johns   Hopkins    University 


baltimore 

The  Johns  Hopkins  Press 

1919 


IN  GRATEFUL  MEMORY 
OF 

SISTER    MARY    MELETIA 


401723 


P/V  ifzi 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I  PAGE 

Intkoduction 1 

CHAPTER  II 

The  Creation  of  the  Geoegic  Type 9 

1.  Vergil's  Georgics,  their  relation  to  the  Worhs  and 
Days  of  Hesiod 9 

2.  Subject  matter  of  the  Georgics 13 

CHAPTER  III 
The  Relation  of  the  Geokgic  to  the  Pastoral.  ...        19 

1.  Distinction  between  the  Georgic  and  the  Pastoral       19 

2.  The  Pastoral,  a  literary  type  of  frequent  occur- 
rence, made  famous  by  great  poets ;  the  Georgic,  a 
literary  type  coincidentally  neglected 26 

3.  Variations  in  the  development  of  the  Georgic  com- 
pared with  variations  in  the  development  of  the 
Eclogue 37 

4.  Variations  'of  the  Georgic  classified 47 

CHAPTER  IV 

Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture 51 

1.  Early  Italian  Poems  on  Agriculture 51 

2.  Early  English  non-Vergilian  Georgics 52 

3.  Sixteenth^Century  Italian  Poems  on  Agriculture  59 

4.  Eighteenth-  and  Nineteenth-Century  Poems  on 
Agriculture 68 

V 


vi  Table  of  Contents 

CHAPTER  V 

Didactic  Poems  ojt  Gardens 75 

1.  From  Columella  to*William  Mason 75 

2.  William  Mason's  "The  English  Garden"  and 
Delille's   "  Jardins  " 84 

3.  Lonis  de  Fontanes'  "  Maison  Rustique."  Its  rela- 
tion to  Delille's  ''  Jardins  "  and  the  fashion  of  the 
English  landscape  garden 90 

4.  Cowper's  georgic  on  the  "  Garden " ;  William 
Knight's  didactic  poem,  "  The  Landscape  " 94 

CHAPTER  VI 

Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports 101 

I.  Of  Hunting 102 

1.  Gratius,  Oppian,  and  Nemesianus 102 

2.  Medieval  Poems  on  the  Chase 110 

3.  Sixteenth-jCentury  Didactics  on  the  Chase 116 

4.  Eighteenth-Century  Didactics  on  the  Chase 124 

II.  Of  Fishing.     The  Halieutic 135 

1.  Oppian  of  Cilicia 135 

2.  John  Dennys'  "  Secrets  of  Angling  " 142 

3.  Later  Seventeenth-Century  Didactic  Poems  on 
Angling 151 

4.  Eighteenth-Century  Didactic  Poems  on  Fishing.  .  153 

5.  Nineteenth^Century  Didactic  Poems  on  Angling.  .  165 

CHAPTER  VII 

Conclusion 170 


PREFACE 


This  contribution  to  the  study  of  the  Vergilian  type  'of  didac- 
tic poetry  was  begun  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  at  the 
suggestion  of  Professor  James  W.  Bright;  the  first  chapters 
were  written  and  published,  in  part  fulfillment  of  the  require- 
ments for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy. 

The  subject  that  I  have  undertaken  is  a  large  one,  leading 
into  many  almost  untouched  fields.  The  little  that  I  have 
accomplished  is  hardly  more  than  an  introduction  to  the  subject. 
I  have  regretted  to  leave  unstudied  so  many  developments  of  the 
georgic,  particularly  in  Italian  literature ;  however,  altho  I  have 
worked  badly,  I  have  hoped  that  I  might  awaken  in  others,  who 
can  work  well,  an  interest  in  this  curious  and  long-neglected  type 
of  poetry. 

I  wish  to  make  grateful  acknowledgment  to  Mr.  Hyder  E. 
Rollins,  who  very  kindly  read  for  me  at  Harvard  rare  editions 
of  John  Lawrence's  Paradise  Regained,  or  The  Art  of  Garden- 
ing, and  Charles  Clifford's  The  British  Angler,  interesting 
poems  that  would  otherwise  have  been  inaccessible  to  me;  and 
to  Professor  Wilfrid  P.  Mustard,  whose  untiring  aid  has  been 
invaluable  to  me,  not  only  in  the  use  of  Greek  and  Latin  mate- 
rials, but  at  every  other  point  connected  with  my  work.  Finally, 
I  wish  to  thank  Professor  Bright,  to  whom  I  owe  chiefly  what 
little  may  be  of  worth  in  this  study.  My  faults  in  workmanship, 
particularly  in  the  last  chapters  written  amidst  many  difficulties 
and  interruptions,  I  regret,  mainly,  because  they  indicate  so 
great  a  departure  from  the  ideals  of  scholarship  that  I  have 
acquired  under  his  guidance  and  inspiration. 

Dominican  College,  San  Rafael,  California. 
March  26,  1919. 


VH 


THE  GEORGIC 


CHAPTER  I 


Introduction 

In  1697,  Addison  in  his  ''  Essay  on  the  Georgics  "  ^  complains 
of  the  neglect  of  these  poems  and  of  their  confusion  with  the 
pastoral.  '"  There  has  been  abundance  of  criticism  spent  on 
Virgil's  Pastorals  and  Aeneids,"  he  writes,  '"  but  the  Georgics 
are  a  subject  which  none  of  the  critics  have  sufficiently  taken 
into  their  consideration,  most  of  them  passing  it  over  in  silence, 
or  casting  it  under  the  same  head  with  Pastoral — a  division  by 
no  means  proper,  unless  we  suppose  the  style  of  a  Husbandman 
ought  to  be  imitated  in  a  Georgic,  as  that  of  a  shepherd  is  in 
Pastoral.  But  though  the  scene  of  both  these  Poems  lies  in  the 
same  place;  the  speakers  in  them  are  of  a  quite  different  char- 
acter, since  the  precepts  of  husbandry  are  not  to  be  delivered 
with  the  simplicity  of  a  Plowman,  but  with  the  address  of  a 
Poet.  jSTo  rules  therefore  that  relate  to  Pastoral,  can  any  way 
affect  the  Georgics,  since  they  fall  under  that  class  of  Poetry, 
which  consists  in  giving  plain  and  direct  instructions  to  the 
reader;  whether  they  be  Moral  duties,  as  those  of  Theognis 
and  Pythagoras;  or  Philosophical  Speculations,  as  those  of  Ara- 
tus  and  Lucretius;  or  Rules  of  practice,  as  those  of  Ilesiod  and 
Virgil." 

One  can  hardly  agree  with  Addison  that  the  critics  have  ne- 
glected Vergil's  Georgics;  and  there  is  evidence  that  from  their 
first  appearance  the  didactics  that  rival  the  De  Rerum  Natura 
were  not  denied  due  honor.  The  long  list  of  translations,  and 
the  various  editions  of  the  Georgics  annotated  in  many  lan- 

'  This  essay  was  contributed  anonymously  as  an  introduction  to  Dryden's 
translation  of  the  Georgics.  It  was  written  as  early  as  1693.  See  Hurd's 
note,  The  Works  of  Addison,  ed.  Bohn,  London,  1862,  p.  154. 

1 


2  The  Georgic 

giiages  bear  witness  to  the  devoted  labor  spent  on  Vergil's  agri- 
cultural treatises.  Various  recent  publications,^  moreover, 
testify  to  the  living  interest  in  the  poems  that  have  been  pro- 
nounced the  most  finished  product  of  antiquity.  But,  so  far 
as  I  am  able  to  discover,  of  the  georgic  as  a  type,  closely  related 
to  the  pastoral,  although  essentially  different  from  it,  nothing- 
definite  or  detailed  has  been  written  in  English  since  Addison's 
complaint  in  1697.  As  for  French  critics,  they  seem  also  to 
have  neglected  the  subject  of  the  georgic  as  a  type.  Collections 
of  Italian  georgics  have  been  edited  ^  and  there  is  some  Italian 
criticism  on  the  georgic  poetry  of  Italy,"*  but  unfortunately 
neither  these  collections  of  "  Italian  Georgics,"  nor  the  critical 
essays  have  so  far  been  accessible  to  me:  of  the  latter  I  know 
only  what  is  conveyed  by  the  titles. 

One  cannot  say  that,  like  the  georgic,  the  pastoral  has  been 
neglected.  With  finer  understanding  of  the  subject  than  that 
which  is  manifest  in  the  age  of  Addison,  the  critics  have  con- 
tinued to  discuss  the  imitations  of  Vergil  and  of  Theocritus. 
Symonds,^  with  justice,  refers  to  "  the  whole  hackneyed  ques- 
tion of  Bucolic  poetry."  Certainly  no  student  can  remain  igno- 
rant of  the  pastoral  as  a  type,  of  its  origin,  of  its  characteristics, 
of  its  developments  as  a  literary  genre,  of  the  recurring  periods 
of  favor  and  disfavor  through  which  it  has  passed.  But  if, 
incidentally,  the  critics  touch  upon  the  difference  in  type  be- 
tween the  Eclogues  and  the  Georgics  of  Vergil,  it  is  usually  to 

"  Meta  Glass,  The  Fusion  of  Stylistic  Elements  in  Vergil's  Georgics,  N, 
Y.,  Columbia  Univ.,  1913;  T.  F.  Royd,  The  Beasts,  Birds,  and  Bees  of  Ver- 
gil: a  nativralist's  handbook  to  the  Georgics,  with  a  preface  by  W.  Warde 
Fowler,  Oxford,  B.  H.  Blackwell,  1914;  T.  C.  Williams,  The  Georgics  atid 
Eclogues  of  Vergil,  with  an  introd.  by  G.  H.  Palmer,  Harvard  Univ. 
Press,  1915;  Les  G^orgiques,  Texte  Latin,  par  Paul  Lejay,  Paris,  1015. 

'/  Poemi  Georgici,  Francesco  Bonsignori,  Lucca,  1785;  Giovanni  Silves- 
tri,  Milano,  1826. 

^Felippo  Re,  Delia  poesia  georgica  degli  Italian!,  Bologna,  1809;  L.  Gi- 
rardelli,  Dei  poemi  georgici  nostrali,  Goriza,  1900;  D.  Merlini's  Saggio  di 
ricerche  sulla  satira  contro  il  villano,  Torino,  Loscher,  1894,  probably 
treats  of  poems  that  fall  under  the  head  of  mock-georgics. 

'^  J.  A.  Symonds,  Studies  of  the  Greek  Poets,  London,  1902,  Vol.  ii,  p.  245. 


Introduciion  3 

notice  the  superiority  of  workmanship  in  the  latter,  or  to  con- 
trast the  general  character  of  the  two  series  of  poems.  Sellar,® 
for  example,  observes  that  Vergil  was  marked  among  his  con- 
temporaries as  the  poet  of  Nature  and  rural  life.  The  Eclogues, 
he  observes,  are  of  a  light  type;  the  general  Roman  spirit  de- 
manded of  its  highest  literature  that  it  should  have  either  some 
direct  practical  use  or  contribute  in  some  way  to  the  sense  of 
national  greatness.  Glover  '^  discusses  the  difference  in  spirit 
between  the  Eclogues  and  the  Georgics:  "  the  great  note  "  of  the 
Eclogues,  youthful  happiness,  the  life  of  the  Shepherd,  an  easy 
life,  touched  sometimes  by  youthful  grief  that  is  never  incon- 
solable ;  in  the  Georgics,  "  the  grim  realization  that  life  involves 
a  great  deal  more  work  than  Menalcas  and  the  rest  had  thought, 
hard  work  all  the  year  round,  vigilance  never  to  be  remitted, 
and  labor  which  it  is  ruin  to  relax."  In  general,  however,  the 
commentators  seem  to  take  it  for  granted  that  the  reader  will 
perceive  of  necessity  the  essential  difference  between  the  two 
types.  Yet  one  continually  finds  that,  in  sjjite  of  Addison's 
emphatic  protest,  students  confuse  the  georgic  with  the  pastoral. 
Of  the  few  writings  that  I  have  been  able  to  discover  on  the 
imitations  of  the  Georgics  there  is  almost  nothing  that  is  of  any 
value  as  a  study  of  the  type.  In  Conington's  edition  of  Vergil,^ 
there  is  a  section  on  the  "  Later  Didactic  Poets  of  Rome,"  an 
essay  that  is  valuable  in  the  history  of  the  georgic,  and  that 
gives  a  general  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Vergilian  model 
was  imitated  from  the  earliest  period.  A  piece  of  work  en- 
titled Virgilio  nella  storia  della  Poesia  Didascalica  Latina,  by  D. 
Renzi,^  promises  valuable  information ;  but  I  have  been  unable 
to  consult  it.     Dunlop  ^^  has  some  comments  on  a  few  of  the 

*  W.  Y.  Sellar,  The  Roman  Poets  of  the  Augustan  Age,  Virgil,  Oxford, 
1908,  pp.  174  ff. 

'  T.  R.  Glover,  Studies  in  Vergil,  London,  Methuen  and  Co.,  1904,  pp. 
30fiF. 

« J.  Conington,  The  Works  of  Vergil,  London,  1872,  Vol.  i,  p.  389. 

•Avella,  1907. 

"  J.  Dunlop,  History  of  Roman  Lit.  during  the  Augustwn  Age.  London, 
1828.     Vol.  m,  pp.  138  ff. 


4  The  Georgic 

imitations  of  the  Georgics,  but  his  remarks  are  even  more  gen- 
eral respecting  the  type  than  those  of  Conington.  For  example, 
he  observes  that  "  The  Rusticus  of  Politian  '  in  Virgilii  Georgi- 
con  enarratione  pronunciata'  is  an  abridgement  of  the  subject 
of  that  poem  and  several  passages  are  nearly  copied  from  it.'' 
After  having  briefly  considered  several  other  imitations,  he 
comments  on  the  great  debt  of  Thomson  to  Vergil  and  points  out 
passages  in  the  Seasons,  imitated,  or  almost  translated,  from  the 
Georgics. 

Ginguene  ^^  has  a  valuable  chapter  on  the  Italian  didactics 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  sketches  briefly  the  contents  of 
most  of  the  Italian  georgics  of  the  period,  but  altho  he  com- 
ments generally  on  the  fact  that  these  poems  follow  Vergil  as 
a  model,  he  says  nothing  of  their  particular  adaptations  of  the 
features  peculiar  to  the  georgic  type.  Incidentally,  he  shows 
that  other  writers,  who  have  considered  imitations  of  the  Geor- 
gics, have  done  so  carelessly.  An  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Luigi 
Alamanni's  Coltivazioive,  Ginguene  protests  against  the  French 
neglect  of  this  important  poem,  a  work  written  and  first  pub- 
lished in  France.  In  particular  he  reproaches  Jacques  Delille, 
Saint-Lambert,  and  a  certain  de  Rosset.  Delille  is  scored,  be- 
cause, in  the  introduction  to  his  translation  of  the  Georgics,  he 
announces  that  he  cannot  refrain  from  speaking  of  the  poems 
for  Avhich  Vergil  has  furnished  the  idea  and  the  model,  after 
which  announcement,  he  considers  Vaniere's  Praedium  Rusti- 
cwn,  Rapin's  Jardins,  Thomson's  Seasans,  and  Saint-Lambert's 
Saisons,  without  mentioning  Luigi  Alamanni.  Saint-Lambert 
is  reproached,  because,  in  his  discours  prelimin<iire,^"  he  writes 
of  the  Georgics  of  Vergil  and  of  les  Georgiques  phis  detaiUes  de 
Vcmiere,  and  neglects  the  opportunity  of  speaking  of  the  georgics 
of  Alamanni.     De  Rosset  is  complained  against,  because,  in  an 

"  P.  L.  Ginguene,  Hist.  Lit.  d'ltaUe,  Paris,  1824,  2e  ed.  T.  9,  ch.  xxxv, 
pp.  1  ff. 

"  Ginguenfi  assumes  that  the  reader  is  familiar  witli  tliis  work:  lie  does  not 
state  where  it  is  to  be  found.  See  J.  F.  Saint-Lambert,  Les  Saisons,  "  Dis- 
cours Pr6liminaire,"  Paris,  1795. 


Introduction  5 

introductory  discourse  on  georgic  poetry  prefixed  to  a  poem  on 
agriculture,^^  he  writes  at  length  on  Hesiod  and  at  still  greater 
length  on  Vergil,  after  which  he  passes  abruptly  to  Rapin  and 
Vaniere,  without  seeming  to  know  that  another  georgic  poet 
(Alamanni)  had  existed  in  the  meantime. 

Saint-Lambert's  discussion  ^^  is  of  no  value  as  a  study  of  the 
georgic  type  as  a  whole,  but  it  is  important  in  the  history  of  the 
development  of  the  eighteenth  century  variation  of  the  type  due 
to  Thomson's  Seasons.  Delille's  introduction  ^^  is  of  interest, 
since  he  makes  a  defense  of  the  georgic.  He  also  considers 
Vaniere's  Praedium  Rusticum  very  briefly  and  compares  it  with 
Vergil's  Georgics,  not,  however,  with  any  reference  to  Vaniere's 
use  of  the  distinctive  features  of  the  Vergilian  type.  This  is 
followed  by  some  general  criticism  of  Rapin's  Gardens,  and 
Thomson's  Seasons,  and  mention  is  made  of  the  existence  of  two 
other  poems  on  the  seasons  by  French  writers  who  are  not  named. 
Delille's  preface  to  L'Homme  des  Champs  ^^  is  of  interest  with 
respect  to  the  broad  meaning  of  the  word  "  georgic  "  in  French 
poems  of  this  class,  but  the  French  critic  is  no  more  detailed  in 
his  discussion  of  this  type  than  he  is  in  the  introduction  to  his 
translation  of  the  Georgics.  Whether  Rosset's  discourse  is  of 
value  or  not,  I  am  unable  to  say,  for  his  work  is  'naccessible 
to  me. 

In  histories  of  Italian  literature, ^''^  there  occur  brief  notices 
of  Italian  didactics,  and  of  Italian  georgics,  among  the  latter 

"  The  reader's  familiarity  with  de  Rosset,  as  with  Saint-Lambert,  is  as- 
sumed. For  a  notice  of  the  life  of  Pierre  Fulcrand  de  Rosset,  who  died  at 
Paris,  in  1788,  the  author  of  a  poem  on  agriculture  in  nine  books,  the  first 
six  of  which  appeared  at  Paris  in  1744,  the  complete  edition  at  Lausanne, 
in  1806,  op.  Pierre  Larousse,  Diet.  Univ.  de  la  XIXe  Siecle,  T.  13,  p.  1302. 

"Op.  evt. 

"  J.  Delille,  (Euvres,  Les  O^orgiques,  Vol.  i,  "  Discours  Pr6liminaire,"  ed. 
P.  F.  Tissot,  Paris,  1832-33. 

"  J.  Delille,  L'Homme  des  Cham.'ps,  ou  Les  Oeorgiques  Francoises,  Paris, 
1805,  p.  18. 

"  See,  for  example,  G.  Tiraboschi,  8tor.  delta  Lett.  Ttal.  Milano,  1822-26. 
T.  v.,  p.  864,  T.  VI,  p.  1428,  T.  \ai,  pp.  1780,  1786  ff.,  T.  xiii,  pp.  2119, 
2136,  2137  flF.     Stor.  Lett,  d'ltal,  Milano,  F.  Flamini,  "  II  Cinquecento,"  pp. 


6  The  Georgic 

being  considered  only  poems  that  treat  of  agricultural  subjects. 
Concerning  the  relation  of  these  poems  to  Vergil's  didactics,  we 
are  told  at  most,  however,  that  they  are  written  in  imitation  of 
the  Oeorgics. 

Flamini  cites  a  study  of  Valvasone's  Caccia  ^^  that  is  probably 
of  value ;  but  I  have  been  unable  to  see  it,  Cavicchi  ^^  shows 
definitely  the  relations  between  Vergil  and  Rucellai,  but  he  does 
not  consider  Rucellai's  use  of  the  chief  features  of  the  georgic 
type.  Altho  Ginguene  complains  of  the  French  neglect  of  Ala- 
manni,  more  appears  to  have  been  written  on  La  Coltivazione 
than  on  any  other  Italian  didactic.  In  a  valuable  Verona 
edition  of  Alamanni's  Coltivazione  and  Rucellai's  Api,  pub- 
lished 1745,  the  Vergilian  borrowings  and  imitations  are  cited 
in  the  annotations  of  Giuseppe  Bianehini  da  Prato  on  La  Colti- 
vazione and  of  Roberto  Tito  on  Le  Api.  Gaspary  mentions 
several  studies  of  La  Coltivazione  ^^  that  I  have  been  unable  to 
see.  Hauvette  ^^  considers  the  poem  in  detail,  commenting  on 
its  relation  to  Vergil's  Georgics,  but  beyond  remarking  that 
Alamanni  scorns  the  digressions  which  are  so  important  a  part 
of  Vergil's  poems,  he  does  not  discuss  the  conventions  of  the 
georgic. 

Most  historians  of  French  literature  are  silent  concerning 
French  georgics ;  histories  of  English  literature  have  almost 
nothing   to   say    of   English    georgics.      Prefaces    to    English 

110,  440-2,  538,  574;  T.  Concari,  "II  Settecento,"  272,  237,  277,  278;  G. 
Mazzoni,  "  L'Ottocento,"  78,  774.  A.  Gaspary,  8tor.  della  Lett.  Ital.,  tr. 
dal  Tedeseo  da  Nic6lo  Zingarelli,  Torino,  1887,  V,  u,  pt.  n,  pp.  142  flf.,  197, 
319. 

"  L.  Pizzio,  La  poesia  didascalica  c  la  "  Caccia "  di  E.  da  Talvasone, 
Udine,  1892. 

"  F.  Cavicchi,  II  Libro  IV  delle  Oeorgiche  di  Virgilio  e  "  Le  Api "  di  G. 
Rucellai,  Teramo,  1900. 

^°  F.  Caccialanza,  Le  Georgiche  di  Virgilio  e  la  "  Coltivazione  "  di  Luigi 
Alama/nni„  Susa,  1892;  G.  Naro,  L'Alamwnni  e  la  Coltivazione,  Siracusa, 
1897 ;  L.  Girardelli,  Dei  poemi  georgici  nostrali  ed  in  particolare  della 
Coltivazione  di  L.  Alamanni,  Gorizia,  1900,  cp.  above,  p.  2. 

'*  H.  Hauvette,  Luigi  Alamanni  (1495-156G),  sa  vie  et  son  ceuvrc,  Paris, 
1903,  pp.  263  ff. 


Introduction  7 

imitations  of  the  Georgics  sometimes  contain  more  or  leas 
general  references  to  Vergil  ^^  as  the  model  followed ;  occa- 
sionally British  borrowings  from  Vergil  are  noted  by  the  bor- 
rowers themselves.-^  No  critic  can  pass  over  Thomson's  debt 
to  Vergil  in  The  Seasons.  Logic  Robertson^'*  has  some  important 
comments  on  it.  Macaulay  -^  dwells  upon  it  at  greater  length ; 
and  Otto  Zippel  ^^  in  his  variornm  edition  of  Tlie  Seasons  notes 
the  resemblances  and  borrowings  with  all  their  changes,  line 
for  line.  Lejay  ^"^  discussing  French  imitations  of  the  Georgics 
writes  suggestively  of  the  influence  of  Thomson's  Seasons  in 
helping  to  make  agi'iculture  a  mode  in  Trench  literature.  He 
remarks  briefly  on  the  translations  and  poems  of  Delille,  on  Les 
Saisons  of  Saint-Lambert,  and  on  Les  Mois  of  Roucher.  But 
no  one  has  studied  Thomson's  Seasons  as  a  development  of  the 
georgic  type,  the  chief  model  of  those  eighteenth  century  ''  geor- 
giques  frangaises "  that  represent  no  attempt  to  convey 
practical  instructions,  but  still  illustrate  almost  all  the  motives 
of  Vergil's  Georgics.  Professor  W.  P.  Mustard  has  contributed 
an  article  on  "  Vergil's  Georgics  and  the  British  Poets,"  ^^ 
in  which  he  points  out  definitely  almost  every  passage  in  British 
literature  echoing  or  imitating  the  Georgics,  gives  a  list  of  Eng- 
lish poems  "  professedly  or  manifestly  "  imitations  of  the  Ver- 
gilian  didactics,  and  notes  a  number  of  the  favorite  Vergilian 
conventions;  but  it  does  not  fall  within  his  purpose  to  discuss 
the  georgic  as  a  literary  type. 

It  would  require  prolonged  investigation  to  prepare  one's  self 
for  a  complete  treatise  on  the  georgic  as  a  type.  In  my  re- 
stricted study  of  the  subject  I  shall  attempt,  first,  to  define  the 

^  Cp.  Somerville,  Preface  to  The  Chase;  Akenside,  The  Pleasures  of  the 
Imagination. 

^'  Cp.  Cowper,  footnote  to  The  Task,  iii,  429,  a  misquotation  of  Oeorg.  ii, 
82;   Gray's  note  on  Ode  to  Spring. 

'^Thomson's  Seasons  amd  Castle  of  Indolence,  Oxford,   1891. 

*'  G.  C.  Macaulay,  James  Thomson,  London,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  1908. 

^"Palaestra,  lxvt. 

"  Op.  cit.,  Introd.,  p.  xxxvii. 

^  Am.  J.  Phil.,  XXIX,  1  ff. 


8  The  Georgic 

georgic  as  a  type  and  to  study  it  with  special  reference  to  its 
relation  to  tlie  pastoral;  second,  to  sketch  the  most  prominent 
features  of  the  historical  development  of  the  georgic;  third,  to 
write  in  detail,  so  far  as  my  material  permits,  the  history  of 
English  georgics  that  treat  of  general  agriculture,  of  gardens 
and  of  field  sports,  discussing  also  to  some  extent  the  didactics 
on  these  themes  that  occur  in  French  and  in  Italian.-^ 


•'My  information  concerning  the  subject  in  Spanish  and  German  is 
casual,  since  I  have  excluded  both  literatures  from  the  range  of  my  study. 
I  am  not  aware  of  any  georgics  in  Spanish;  and  the  type,  except  as  it  is 
developed  in  Thomson's  Seasons,  seems  to  have  fovmd  little  favor  among 
German  writers.  For  the  influence  of  Tliompson's  Seasons  on  German 
literature,  cp.  K.  Gjerset,  Der  Einfluss  von  James  7'homson's  "  -fahns- 
zeiten  "  auf  die  deutsche  lAteratur  des  achzehnten  Jahrhunderts.  Heidel- 
berg, 1898. 


The  Creation  of  the  Georgic  Type 


CHAPTER  II 


The  Ckeatiox  of  the  Geoegic   Type 

1.     Vergil's  Georgics:  Their  Relation  to  the  Woi'hs  and 
Days  of  Hesiod. 

The  pastoral  has  come  down  to  us  from  Theocritus,  largely 
thru  Vergil.  The  georgic,  also,  originated  with  the  Greeks. 
Varro  ^  names  many  writers  among  the  Greeks  who  wrote  of 
agi'iculture.  Some,  he  says,  treated  the  same  subject  in  verse, 
as  for  example,  Hesiod  of  Ascra,  and  Menecrates  of  Ephesus. 
The  verses  of  Menecrates  however,  remain  mere  tradition.  Of 
Xicander's  Georgics,-  there  are  left  only  fragments  that  in  no 
way  confirm  the  suggestion  of  Quintilian,^  that  Vergil  followed 
him ;  nor  do  any  other  critics  point  out  that  Vergil  owes  more 
to  Xicander  than  the  borrowings  from  the  Thei'iaca.^  The 
georgic  may  be  said  to  have  originated  with  the  TForA's  and 
Days  of  Hesiod.  but  it  has  come  down  to  us  as  a  literary  form 
thru  Vergil,  whose  Georgics  owe  far  less  to  Hesiod  than  his 
Eclogues  owe  to  Theocritus.  The  Eclogues  are  little  more  than 
artificial  copies,  often  mere  translations,  of  Theocritus ;  yet 
the  world  does  not  fail  to  acknowledge  the  charm  with  which 
Vergil  has  invested  them  as  his  own.  N'ames  as  great  as  those 
of  Horace,  Milton,  Coleridge,  Wordsworth,  and  Macaulay,  are 
found  in  the  list  of  their  admirers ;  but  none  the  less,  not  only 
the  literary  conventions,  but  also  much  that  is  best  in  them, 

^  Varro  on  Farming.  Translated  by  Lloyd  Storr-Best,  London,  G.  Bell 
&  Sons,   1912,  p.  .5. 

*  Nicander  lived  in  the  2nd  c.  B.  C.  Tlie  fragments  of  his  lost  works 
are  edited  with  a  Latin  translation  by  A.  F.  Didot,  Poetae  Bucolici  et 
Didactici.     Graece  et  Latine.     Paris,  1862,  p.   15''. 

'  Instit.  Orat.,  x,  1,  56. 

*  Cp,  T.  E.  Page,  P  Tergili  Maronis  Bucolica  et  Georgica,  Macmillan  and 
Co.,  1910,  notes  on  Georg.  in,  425,  430,  513. 


10  The  Georgic 

Vergil  owes  to  Theocritus.  Even  the  landscape  portrayed  in 
them  may  sometimes  be  recognized  as  that  of  Sicily. 

Many  influences  were  at  work  in  the  poems  that  Sellar  de- 
clares to  be  '  almost  the  only  specimens  of  didactic  poetry  that 
the  world  cares  to  read.'  And  there  is  much  of  Hesiod  in  Ver- 
gil ;  but  it  is  Vergil,  not  Hesiod,  who  created  the  literary  form 
of  the  georgic. 

Some  idea  of  the  Works  and  Days  may  be  had  from  the  title 
page  of  Chapman's  Translation,^  "  The  Georgicks  of  Hesiod, 
by  George  Chapman:  Translated  elaborately  out  of  the  Greek. 
Containing  Doctrine  of  Husbandrie,  Morality  and  Piety,  with 
a  perpetual  calendar  of  Good  and  Bad  Daies  ;  Not  Superstitious, 
but  necessary  (as  far  as  natural  causes  compell)  for  all  men 
to  observe,  and  difference  in  following  their  affaires."  More 
tersely,  Aristophanes  sums  up  the  matter  {The  Frogs,  1033, 
translated  by  Hookham  Frere) : 

Next  came  old  Hesiod,  teaching  us  husbandry, 
Ploughing,  and  sowing,  and  rural  affairs, 
Eural  economy,  rural  astronomy, 
Homely  morality,  labor  and  thrift. 

Hesiod  does  not  purport  to  write  a  systematic  treatise  on 
agriculture.  He  begins  by  invoking  the  Muses,  and  continues 
with  a  personal  address  to  Perses,  his  brother,  who  has  wronged 
him,  and  seems  in  need  of  advice.  Here  ensues  a  moralization 
on  strife ;  then  the  story  of  Pandora  is  told,  in  explanation  of 
the  necessity  of  toil,  and  of  the  difficulties  of  life.  From  this, 
arises  an  account  of  the  Golden  Age,  and  the  evil  days  that 
followed  thereafter.  Perses  is  exhorted  to  justice  and  work, 
and  is  given  various  wise  coimsels.  Then  the  poet  cries,  "  Now 
if  thy  heart  in  thy  breast  is  set  on  wealth,  do  thou  thus  and 
work  one  work  upon  another  " ;  an  interesting  introduction  to 
what  may  be  called  the  only  purely  georgic  part  of  the  Worhs 
and  Days,  for  the  labors  that  are  to  bring  Perses  wealth  are  the 
labors  of  the  husbandman.     Hesiod  follows  his  exhortation  by 

"London,   1618. 


The  Creation  of  the  Georgic  Type  11 

a  series  of  desultory  precepts  concerning  husbandry;  when  to 
plow  and  how  to  plow,  what  signs  to  follow,  what  evils  to  avoid. 
After  this,  he  proceeds  with  advice  concerning  seafaring,  the 
time  to  marry,  the  pouring  of  libations  to  the  gods,  and  other 
miscellaneous  matters.  Then  follows  a  calendar  of  lucky  and 
unlucky  days,  and  the  poem  concludes,  "  Therein  happy  and 
blessed  is  he,  who  knowing  all  these  things,  worketh  his  work, 
blameless  before  the  deathless  gods,  reading  omens  and  avoid- 
ing sin." 

From  this  sketch  it  may  be  seen  that  Hesiod's  poem  is  not  a 
carefully  planned,  artistically  perfect  structure.  Even  through 
the  medium  of  a  prose  translation,^  nevertheless,  the  work  has 
a  singular  charm.  In  Chapman's  couplets,  much  of  this  is 
inevitably  lost ;  but  in  Professor  Mair's  prose,  the  freshness, 
the  vigor  of  style,  the  personality  of  the  poet,  carry  the  reader 
back  to  earlier  ages  when  philosophy  walked  in  homely  garb, 
and  the  world  learned  as  yet  little  from  libraries,  much  from 
life.  Hesiod  is  counsellor,  husbandman,  and  poet.  Stories  of 
gods  and  men  he  knows,  superstitions,  perhaps  for  all  his  scorn 
of  women,  old  wives'  tales.  He,  has  lived  in  the  fields,  has 
learned  the  signs  that  ISTature  has  set  for  man  to  read,  and  he 
is  at  home  with  the  winds  and  the  stars. 

Vergil  grew  up  among  the  woods  and  plains  of  Italy,  a  covm- 
try  boy  with  a  poet's  soul,  a  poet's  clear-sighted  eyes,  and  finely 
attuned  hearing.  But  he  became  conversant  with  the  learning 
of  his  day.  He  absorbed  the  teaching  of  generations  of  poets 
and  philosophers ;  and  at  the  beginning  of  his  poetic  career  the 
glory  of  Lucretius  was  still  new.  He  professes  to  sing  the  song 
of  Hesiod,'^  and  he  builds  upon  the  model  of  Lucretius.  He 
enriches  his  poems  with  wisdom  gleaned  from  writers  on  natu- 
ral history  and  astronomy,  and  makes  them  practical  by  sound 
precepts,  drawn  not  only  from  his  own  experience,  but  from 
the  tested  writings  of  authorities  such  as  the  Carthaginian 
Mago,  the  Greeks  Democritus  and  Xenophon,  the  Latins  Cato 

"  Hesiod,  translated  by  A.  W.  Mair,  Oxford,  1908. 

'  Ascraeumque  cano  Romana  per  oppida  carmen,  Georg.  ii,  176. 


12  The  Georgic 

and  Varro.  And  he  writes  steeped  in  the  inspiration  of  Lucre- 
tius. But  the  life  that  he  depicts  is  the  life  that  he  knew, 
Italian  life  against  a  background  of  Italian  landscape.  In  the 
making  of  his  poems  he  reveals  himself  a  reader  of  books,  a 
lover  of  philosophy,  but  a  greater  lover  of  his  native  land;  a 
good  husbandman,  and  a  wise  giver  of  advice,  but  over  and  above 
everything  a  great  poet. 

An  account  of  the  sources  of  the  Georgics  may  be  read  in  any 
important  history  of  Roman  literature,  and  in  most  of  the  de- 
tailed studies  of  Vergil's  work.  His  indebtedness  m.ay  be 
traced  in  detail,  thru  various  scholarly  editions  of  the  Georgics. 
Sellar's  book  is  particularly  valuable  with  regard  to  the  rela- 
tions between  Vergil  and  Lucretius,  and  to  the  part  that  Maece- 
nas played  in  the  composition  of  the  poems.  Maecenas  probably 
had  some  influence  in  Vergil's  choice  of  a  subject  peculiarly 
suited  to  the  policy  of  the  times,  a  policy  begun  with  the  ill- 
fated  efforts  of  the  Gracchi.  Luxury  and  vice  had  inevitably 
followed  in  the  wake  of  Roman  conquest.  Long  civil  wars  had 
torn  the  country,  and  men  loved  the  soldier's  life  of  daring  and 
adventure  better  than  steady  quiet,  the  routine  of  the  farmer's 
toil.  The  city's  lure  was  probably  very  much  then  what  it  is 
now.  Moreover,  during  the  long  wars,  there  had  been  times 
when  the  regular  government  was  almost  suspended.  '  Right 
had  become  wrong,  and  wrong  right ;  the  fields  lay  waste,  their 
cultivators  being  taken  away,  and  the  crooked  scythes  forged 
into  swords'  (Georg.  i,  505-8).  Only  a  revival  of  the  ancient 
Roman  principles  could  restore  the  ancient  Roman  greatness. 
A  new  theme  was  offered  to  the  poet.  '  Others  that  in  song 
might  have  held  frivolous  minds  were  now  all  grown  common- 
place '  (Georg.  iii,  2-4).  Vergil  felt  the  inspiration,  and  so 
composed  the  poems  that  were  to  celebrate  the  arts  of  peace, 
the  glorification  of  honest  toil,  the  praises  of  his  native  land. 

ISTaturally,  the  didactic  was  the  form  selected  for  the  poem. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  Vergil  was  fired  by  a  desire  to  be- 
come the  Hesiod,^  as  he  was  already  the  Theocritus,  of  the 

'  Cp.  Si'llar,  o/;.  nt.,  p.  175. 


The  Creation  of  the  Georgic  Type  13 

Romans.  And  in  the  De  Rerum  Naturae  Lucretius  had  shown 
the  great  possibilities  of  didactic  poetry.  With  utmost  reverence 
for  the  work  of  Lucretius,  but  with  fine  understanding  of  his 
own  powers,  Vergil  gave  himself  to  the  writing  of  the  Georgics, 
perfecting  the  meter  that  Lucretius  had  suggested  to  him,  and 
adapting  Lucretius'  plan  to  his  own  needs. 

2.     Subject  Matter  of  the  Georgics 

The  Georgics  are  written  in  four  books,  each  a  complete  poem, 
dealing,  as  the  name  implies,  with  a  subject  connected  with 
agricultural  pursuits.  The  first  book  treats  of  the  preparation 
of  the  soil ;.  the  second  of  planting,  grafting  and  pruning ;  the 
third  of  cattle ;  the  fourth  of  bees. 

The  subject  matter  of  the  poems  may  be  analyzed  as  follows : 

Book  I 

1—5.    Address  to  Maecenas,  announcing  the  subjects  of  the 
four  poems. 
5-42.    Address  to  the  rural  deities;   Augustus  eulogized, 
named  as  one  of  the  gods. 
43-63.    Of  preparing  soils;  the  time  to  sow;  of  winds  and 
other  variations  of  the  weather.     Products  pecu- 
liar   to    different    soils.     DigTession    on    foreign 
countries    and    their   products.     Allusion   to   the 
story  of  Deucalion. 
63-70.    The  time  to  plow. 
71-117.    Of  alternating  crops ;  treatment  of  poor  lands. 
117-159.    Annoyances  that  harass  the  farmer,  due  to  Father 
Jove's  desire  to  strengthen  men  by  teaching  them 
the  use  of  their  powers.     Of  the   Golden   Age." 
JSTecessity  of  constant  work,  warfare  and  prayer. 

'  In  his  treatment  of  the  Golden  Age,  Vergil  partly  follows  Hesiod  in 
accepting  it  as  a  former  age,  carefree  and  happy.  But  Hesiod  regards  the 
passing  of  the  Golden  Age  as  a  punisliment  of  the  gods  for  the  tlieft  of 
Prometheus;    just   as    the    Biblical    tradition   makes   the    loss    of   Eden    a 


14  The  Georgic 

160-175.    Farm  implements  described. 

IT'G-SSO.  Precepts  concerning  precautions  against  various  an- 
noyances ;  the  signs  of  a  good  season ;  the  prepara- 
tion of  seeds;  necessity  for  observation  of  the 
constellations. 

231-259.    Episode  of  the  five  zones. 

259-275.  Labors  that  may  be  done  in  wet  weather;  on  holy 
days. 

276-286.    Of  favorable  and  unfavorable  days. 

287-310.    Winter  relaxations  and  occupations. 

311-334.    Of  autumn  tempests;  a  storm  described. 

335-350.  Fearing  the  elements,  observe  the  skies,  venerate  the 
gods ;  offer  the  annual  rites  to  Ceres ;  Ceres' 
rites  ^°  described. 

351-464.    Weather  signs ;  warnings  of  the  sun  and  moon. 

465-497.  Signs  and  omens  attending  Csesar's  death.  Horrors 
of  the  resulting  civil  war. 

498-514.  Prayer  to  the  gods  to  preserve  Csesar  to  save  a  lost 
and  ruined  age,  wherein  the  plow  has  none  of  its 
due  honor,  and  mad  Mars  rages  over  all  the  globe. 

Book  II 

1-8.    Preceding  subject  stated ;   new  subject  announced. 
Bacchus  invoked. 
9-90.    Varieties  of  trees ;  best  method  of  cultivating  differ- 
ent varieties. 
91-109.    Great  variety  of  vines;  impossibility  of  naming  all. 
110-135.    Products  peculiar  to   different  regions;  to  foreign 
lands. 

punishment  for  the  eating  of  the  forbidden  apple.  Vergil's  conception  is 
nobler,  his  practical  philosophy  bears  a  curious  analog}'  to  the  apostolic 
teaching  of  the  strengthening  power  of  tribulation.  Tliis  may  or  may  not 
be  the  core  of  Vergil's  religious  belief,  but  it  is  the  most  characteristic 
passage  of  the  Georgics,  emphasizing  the  central  theme  of  the  poem, — the 
necessity  and  the  value  of  hardships  and  continual  labor. 
"The  Ambarvalia. 


The  Creation  of  the  Georgic  Type 


15 


136-176. 

177-258. 

259-314. 
315-345. 
346-370. 

371-379. 

380-396. 

397-419. 
420-458. 


459-474. 
475-494. 


495-540. 


541-542. 


Panegyric  of  Italy,  blessed  above  all  other  lands. 

Of  soils ;  different  qualities  adapted  to  different  pro- 
ducts; of  testing  soils. 

Methods  and  time  of  planting  and  pruning. 

Descriptive  episode — of  Spring. 

Further  precepts  concerning  the  care  of  vines  and 
trees. 

Of  protecting  the  vine  from  cattle,  especially  from 
the  wild  goat. 

Digression — of  the  sacrifice  of  the  goat  to  Bacchus; 
rural  feasts  in  Bacchus'  honor. 

Of  the  husbandman's  recurring  labor. 

Gifts  that  earth  supplies  of  herself,  or  in  return  for 
little  care.  Various  uses  of  trees,  gifts  better 
than  those  of  Bacchus.  Allusion  to  the  battle  of 
the  Centaurs. 

The  blessings  of  country  life  contrasted  with  the 
troubled  luxuries  of  cities. 

Prayer  to  the  Muses — first,  that  the  poet  be  granted 
to  know  the  causes  of  things.  This  denied,  the 
love  of  woods  and  streams  and  fields.  He  is  blest 
who  has  cast  aside  superstition  and  the  fear  of 
death,  but  he  is  blest  also  who  knows  the  rural 
gods. 

Continuation  of  the  praise  of  country  life;  the  life 
led  by  the  Romans  of  old,  whereby  their  country 
became  the  greatest  of  the  earth. 

Conclusion, — But  we  have  travelled  over  an  immense 
space ;  it  is  time  to  loosen  the  reeking  necks  of  our 
steeds. 

Book  III 


1-9.    Subject  stated,   cattle  and  their  guardian   deities; 

necessity  of  choosing  a  new  theme. 
10-39.    A  future  poem  allegorically  described. 
40-48.    Meanwhile  the  subject  requested  by  Maecenas  (no 

light  task),  must  be  pursued. 


16 


The  Georgic 


49-102. 


103-145. 
146-156. 

157-208. 
209-283. 
284-285. 

286-288. 

289-293. 


294-321. 

322-338. 


339-383. 

384-403. 
404-413. 

414-439. 
440-469. 

470-532. 


Of  breeding  cattle.  (66-68,  A  mournful  reflection 
interposed  on  the  quick  passing  of  the  best  in 
human  life.) 

A  chariot  race  described;  of  chariot  racing. 

Of  the  gadfly;  allusion  to  the  story  of  Ino. 

Of  training  calves  and  colts. 

Ill  effects  of  blind  love  on  man  and  beast. 

But  meanwhile  time  flies,  as  beguiled  by  love  of  the 
subject  we  linger  upon  each  detail. 

Enough  of  flocks,  the  task  remains  to  treat  of  woolly 
sheep  and  shaggy  goats. 

The  poet  realizes  the  difficulty  of  his  subject,  but  his 
cherished  desire  leads  him  to  the  neglected  heights 
of  Parnassus,  where  no  poet  has  trodden  before. 

The  care  of  sheep  and  goats,  especially  in  winter. 

A  shepherd's  summer  day,  from  the  first  appearance 
of  the  morning  star  to  the  rising  of  cool  Vesper 
and  the  dewy  moon. 

Shepherd  life  in  foreign  lands,  in  the  tropics  and  in 
the  arctic  regions. 

Precautions  in  the  securing  of  wool;  of  milk. 

Advice  not  to  neglect  the  care  of  dogs;  the  value 
of  dogs  as  protectors  and  in  the  chase. 

The  care  of  folds;  pests  that  must  be  destroyed. 

Causes  and  signs  of  distress  among  sheep;  preven- 
tives and  remedies. 

Frequency  of  plagues  among  cattle;  description  of 
a  cattle  plague. 


Book  IV 


1-7.    Subject    announced ;    "  The    divine    gift    of    aerial 
honey." 
8-32.    Of  sites  for  hives. 
33-50.    Of  hives. 
51-66.    Of  hiving  swarms. 
67-87.    Battles  among  the  bees;  how  to  check  such  contests. 


The  Creation  of  the  Georgic  Type  17 

88-102.  Of  choosing-  the  victorious  leader,  and  the  better 
subjects. 

103-115.  Of  plucking  the  Kings  wings  to  prevent  battle;  of 
inviting  the  bees  with  gardens. 

116-148.  Were  the  work  not  so  nearly  ended  the  poet  might 
sing  of  gardens,  for  he  remembers  the  wonders 
wrought  by  a  poor  old  man  of  Tarentum,  with  his 
garden  and  his  hives;  but  prevented  by  limited 
space  he  must  leave  the  task  to  others. ^^ 

140-218.  Natural  qualities  and  instincts  of  bees.  Their  com- 
munity life;  their  customs. 

210-227.  Beliefs  in  pantheism  and  immortality  held  by  some 
as  a  result  of  the  intelligence  observed  in  bees. 

228-250.    Of  collecting  honey. 

251-280.    Care  of  sick  bees. 

281-558.  Of  recovering  the  loss  of  a  whole  stock  of  tees.  Epi- 
sode of  Aristaeus,  whose  bees  were  destroyed  in 
punishment  of  his  crime  against  Eurydice. 

559-566.  Conclusion.  Reference  to  composition  of  the  Ec- 
logues. 

The  foregoing  outline  may  give  some  idea  of  the  difficulties 
and  of  the  possibilities  of  the  georgic.  For  me  to  attempt  a 
criticism  of  Vergil's  work  would  be  alike  unnecessary  and  un- 
profitable ;  the  w^orld  has  too  long  justified  the  truth  of  the 
poet's  words  {Georg.  iv,  5-6): 

in  tenui  labor;  at  tenuis  non  gloria,  si  quem 
numina  laeva  sinunt  anditque  vocatus  Apollo. 

The  arguments  for  and  against  didactic  poetry  need  ilo  re- 
petition. Even  those  most  prejudiced  can  not  deny  Vergil's 
success.  The  heaviest  charge  brought  against  him  is  that  he 
is  not  concerned  to  make  his  teachings  practical,  but  that  he 
uses  homely  details  only  as  a  foil  to  poetic  situations  and  de- 

""A  graceful  interpolation,  sketching  what  miglit  have  been  a  fifth 
Georgic." — Conington,  op.  cit. 


18  The  Georgic 

scriptions.^-  There  is  testimony,  however,  that  even  Vergil's 
most  prosaic  teachings  have  been  read  with  delight ;  and  Page  ^^ 
notes  a  cnrions  proof  of  the  neglect  of  the  valuable  matter  con- 
tained in  the  Georgics.  According  to  the  Encyclojjcedm  Bvi- 
tcninica/'^  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  alter- 
nation of  crojDS  was  just  becoming  a  common  practice  in  Eng- 
land, a  great  improvement  upon  the  previous  and  common  us- 
age of  exhausting  the  land  and  then  letting  it  recover  its 
strength  by  lying  fallow.  In  Georg.  i,  7-83,  this  improved  sys- 
tem had  been  recommended  by  Vergil  eighteen  centuries  before. 
It  is  probably  true  that  no  peasant  ever  drew  material  pro- 
fit from  the  Georgics,  and  it  is  certainly  true  that  Vergil's 
poems  are  not  addressed  to  the  uneducated.  But  a  proof  that  the 
Georgics  have  been  of  influence  in  life  as  well  as  literature  may 
be  had  from  the  statement  of  Pierre  Larousse  ^^  that  the  lean- 
ing towards  agriculture  of  the  learned  Italian  scientific  farmer, 
Felippo  Re,  was  decided  by  the  reading  of  Vergil's  Georgics. 


"  Cp.  T.  DeQuincey,  "  The  Toetry  of  Pope,"  The  Collected  Writings,  ed. 
D.  Masson,  Edinburgh,  1890,  vol.  xi,  p.  91. 
"Op.  cit.,  Introd.,  xxxvii. 
"  S.  v.,  Agriculture,  c.  2,  §  i. 
"  Orcmd.  Diet.  Univ.  du  XlXe  Si^cle,  T.  1.3. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  19 


CHAPTER  III 


The  Relatiox  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoeal 
1.    Distinction  hetireen  the  Georgic  and  the  Pastoral 

The  etymology  of  the  term  pastoral  is  a  guide  to  the  narrower 
meaning  of  the  word,  a  meaning  still  given  in  the  Century 
Dictionary, — ''  Pastoral,  a  poem  describing  the  life  and  man- 
ners of  shepherds."  Bnt  pastoral  is  used  also  to  characterize 
any  literature  that  describes  a  simple  rural  life,  such  as  Burns' 
Cotter  s  Saturday  Night,  or  Walton's  Compleat  Angler,  which 
Hazlitt  ^  calls  "  the  best  pastoral  in  our  language." 

Eclogue,  '  a  selection,'  and  idyll,  '  a  little  picture,'  or  '  a  little 
poem,'  would  seem  broader  in  meaning  than  pastoral.  But 
thruout  English  literature  all  three  terms  have  been  gener- 
ally used  as  synonyms ;  hence  the  development  of  the  incon- 
gruous types  of  so-called  pastorals,  and  eclogues,  and  idylls, 
such  for  example  as  the  pastoral  elegy,  the  allegorical  eclogue 
or  pastoral,  the  piscatory  eclogue,  and  the  town  eclogue.^  Theo- 
critus' poems  are  named  Idylls.  But  Cowley  ^  in  his  essay 
Of  Agriculture,  writes,  "  Theocritus  (a  very  ancient  poet,  but 
he  was  one  of  our  tribe,  for  he  wrote  nothing  but  Pastorals)," 
altho  as  Mr.  Kerlin  says,  half  the  idylls  of  Theocritus  are 
not  poems  of  rural  life. 

Vergil,  presumably,  called  his  imitations  of  Theocritus  Bu- 
colics,^  and  in  Georg.  iv,  565,  he  alludes  to  them  as  "  carmina 
pastorum."  According  to  Page,  the  grammarians  probably 
gave  them  the  name  eclogues.     The  indiscriminate  use  as  syno- 

MV.  Hazlitt,  "On  John  Buncle."  The  Round  Table;  a  Collecrtion  of 
Essays  on  Literature,  Men,  and  Manners,  3rd  ed.,  London,  1841. 

'  Cf.  R.  T.  Kerlin,  Theocritus  in  Eng.  Lit.,  Lynchburg,  Va.,  1910,  App.  2, 
p.  181. 

*A.  Cowley,  Essays  and  Other  Prose  Writings,  ed.  by  Alfred  B.  Gough, 
Oxford,  1915,  p.   141. 

*  Cf.  Page,  op.  cit.,  Introd.,  X,  n.  1  and  n.  2. 


20  The  Georgic 

nyms  of  the  four  terms,  Idyll,  Bucolic,  Eclogue,  and  Pastoral, 
seems  therefore  based  on  Roman  authority,  a  fact  which  ]\Ir. 
Kerlin  fails  to  mention.  Vergil's  "  carmina  pastorum  "  and  his 
Georgics  are  usually  edited  together,  either  as  Bucolics  and 
Georgics,  or  as  Eclogues  and  Georgics,  This  may  be  one  reason 
why  the  pastoral  and  the  georgic  are  still  so  frequently  con- 
fused ;  another  reason  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  fashions 
of  the  pastoral,  as  of  the  georgic,  owe  so  much  to  Vergil. 

Georgic  ^  means  literally  '  earth-w^ork,'  or  '  field-work,'  hence 
a  poem  that  treats  of  work  in  the  fields,  of  husbandry,  or  more 
broadly,  of  rural  occupations.  According  to  Addison,^  "  the 
Georgic  deals  with  rules  of  practice.  A  kind  of  poetry  that 
addresses  itself  wholly  to  the  imagination ;  it  is  altogether  con- 
versant among  the  fields  and  woods,  and  has  the  most  delightful 
part  of  i^ature  for  its  province.  It  raises  in  our  minds  a  pleas- 
ing variety  of  scenes  and  landscapes,  while  it  teaches  us,  and 
makes  the  dryest  of  its  precepts  look  like  a  description.  A 
Georgic  therefore  is  some  part  of  the  science  of  husbandry,  put 
into  a  pleasing  dress,  and  set  off  with  all  the  beauties  and  em- 
bellishments of  poetry." 

In  noting  that  the  georgic  deals  with  rural  occupations  its 
agreement  with  the  pastoral  is  seen  at  once.  Both  have  the  same 
background,  and  shepherd  life  may  be  depicted  in  both.  In 
both  one  finds  the  element  of  delight  in  country  life.  But  in 
Addison's  definition  the  words  "  science  "  and  "  rules  of  prac- 
tice," strike  at  once  a  vital  difference.  The  georgic,  as  Vergil 
planned  it,  purports  to  instruct  scientifically  by  means  of  tech- 
nical terms  and  a  use  of  practical  details.  The  writer,  speak- 
ing in  the  first  person,  recounts  his  experience  for  the  reader's 
benefit,  incidentally  making  use  of  various  ornamental  devices. 
The  pastoral,   as  Theocritus  and  Vergil  left  the  form,  never 

^  Gk.  7^,  the  earth,  root  tpy  of  epyoi/  work.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  altho  Vergil  goes  to  the  Greeks  for  the  names  of  his  poems,  he  does 
not  owe  them  either  to  Hesiod  or  Theocritus.  Chapman  called  his  trans- 
lation "  The  Georgicks  of  Hesiod,"  after  Vergil.  Vergil  probably  owes  tlio 
name  to  Nicander. 

"Op.  cit. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  21 

assumes  directly  the  purpose  of  instructing.  It  is  most  often 
dramatic  in  nature,  and  the  characters  are  frequently  repre- 
sented as  speaking,  or  singing,  often  in  dialogue.  The  shephcr;! 
of  Vergil's  pastoral  does  not  suggest  the  idea  of  toil.  Neither 
is  he  bowed  under  the  weight  of  responsibility,  troubled  unduly 
by  the  doubtful  blessing  of  ownership  and  family  cares.  He 
does  not  scruple  to  neglect  his  sheep  for  love  of  some  scornful 
maid;  often  he  watches  over  the  possessions  of  another,  and  he 
does  not  dare  even  to  wager  a  fat  lamb,  if  an  inconvenient  step- 
mother waits  at  home  to  take  count  of  the  returning  flocks. 
He  has  his  share  of  gTievances,  but  his  occupation  is  one  wherein 
he  may  pass  joyous  and  comparatively  idle  hours,  in  which, 
like  Tityrus  reclining  under  the  shade  of  a  spreading  beech,  he 
meditates  the  woodland  muse  on  his  slender  reed.     ' 

The  pastoral  themes  are  few,  the  singing  match,  the  dirge, 
the  love  lay,  the  conventional  forms  fixed  by  Theocritus  and 
imitated  by  Vergil,  who  "  by  including  among  his  Bucolic  piece? 
the  famous  '  Pollio  '  ''  "'  added  thereto  the  panegyric,  so  marked 
a  feature  of  the  georgic,  and  with  his  ^'  freer  use  "  of  the  pas- 
toral disguise  is  accredited  with  having  given  rise  to  the  pasto- 
ral allegory.  But  no  matter  what  the  theme,  there  is  always 
in  the  setting  of  the  poem  an  atmosphere  of  golden  days,  a  re- 
moteness from  the  practical  business  of  life.  Daphnis  is  dead, 
but  he  "  delights  in  restful  peace,"  and  his  companions  are 
happy  in  erecting  an  altar  to  him.  Meliboeus  is  driven  from 
his  fatherland,  a  mournful  exile,  but  his  grief  only  serves  to 
heighten  the  effect  of  the  idle  joys  of  the  fortunate  Tityrus, 
Tityrus  who  is  allowed  to  remain  piping  under  the  beeches' 
shade.  Shadows  fall  from  the  mountains  as  the  sun  declines, 
but  of  storm  clouds  and  devastating  rains  one  hears  almost 
nothing.  The  tragedies,  as  well  as  the  petty  ills  that  mark  the 
constant  struggle  of  life,  are  left  aside.     The  shepherd  sings 

'  Cf.  C.  H.  Herford,  ed.  of  tlie  Hhepheards  Calendar,  T.ondon,  Macmillan 
&  Co.,  \WM,  Introd.,  xxx.  Herford  does  not  note  tlie  fact  tliat  Verpril  found 
both  tlie  panegyric  and  the  Pollio  motive  of  pastoral  peace  in  Tlioocritua. 
Cp.  Idylls,  xvT  and  xvii. 


/ 


22  The  Georgic 

untroubled  by  the  swift  and  cruel  passing  of  time.  What  sor- 
rows he  has  are  the  sweet  sorrows  of  youth ;  he  experiences  no 
foreshadowing  of  the  weight  of  responsibility  and  the  bitter 
coming  of  old  age.  And  so,  the  pastoral  that  Vergil  left  as  a 
model  for  future  generations  has  come  down  to  us  signifying 
almost  always  the  dream  of  Arcadian  life.  Little  wonder  that 
a  frivolous  queen  and  her  short-sighted  court  should  have  for- 
gotten a  starving  peasantry  while  playing  at  the  pastoral. 

True,  there  are  pastorals  of  the  conventional  type  that  dwell 
more  or  less  upon  the  petty  ills  of  life;  for  example,  in  the 
eclogue  of  Severus  Sanctus,  De  Mortibus  Boum,^  two  herds- 
men converse  on  the  subject  of  a  cattle  plague ;  the  evils  of  life 
seem  largely  responsible  for  the  bitter  tongues  of  Mantuan's 
shepherds ;  Spenser  not  only  satirizes  the  failings  of  church  and 
state,  but  he  shows  the  discomfort  of  the  shepherd's  life,  draw- 
ing a  bleak  picture  of  "  rancke  Winter's  rage."  Thus  the  old 
Thenot  rebukes  the  suffering  Cuddie  ("  Februarie,"  9-24)  : 

Lewdly   complainest  thou,  laesie   ladde, 
Of  Winters  wracke  for  making  thee  sadde. 
From  good  to  badd,  and  from  badde  to  worse, 
From  worse  unto  that  is  worst  of  all, 
And  then  returne  to  his  former  fall? 
Who  will  not  suffer  the  stormy  time, 
Where  will  he  live  tyll  the  lusty  prime? 
Selfe  have  I  worn  out  thrise  threttie  yeares. 
Some  in  much  joy,  many  in  many  teares. 
Yet  never  complained  of  cold  nor  heate, 
Of  Sommers  flame,  nor  of  Winters  threat, 
Ne  ever  was  to  Fortune  foeman. 
But  gently  took  that  ungently  came; 
And  ever  my  flocke  was  my  chief  care. 
Winter  or  Sommer  they  mought  well  fare. 

Thirsis,  in  Eclogue  i,  of  Sable's  Pans  Pipe,^  complains  of 
the  death  of  a  ewe,  and  the  loss  of  a  "  tidie  lamb  "  that  the 
'  Fox  did  eate,'  while  the  shepherd  slept  under  a  thicket,     Ty- 

'  Anthologia  Latina,  ed.  A.  Riose,  Leipzig,  1006,  ii,  334. 
'Reprinted  by  J.  W.  Bright  and  W.  P.  Mustard,  Modern  Philology,  vii, 
433  ff.,  April,  1910.     For  Sabie's  debt  to  Mantuan,  see  pp.  436  ff. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  23 

terns  seeks  to  console  him  with  proverbial  wisdom,  but  Thirsis, 
paraphrasing  Mantnan,  bitterly  replies: 

Good  counsell  Tyterus,  but  not  so  easily  followed, 

Man  is  born  in  griefe,  and  grieueth  at  euery  mishap. 

I  think  we  shepheards  take  greatest  paines  of  all  others, 

Sustaine  greatest  losses,  we  be  tryed  with  daylie  labour. 

With  colde  in  winter,  with  heat  in  summer  oppressed. 

To  manie  harmes  our  tender  flockes,  to  manie  diseases 

Our  sheep  are  subject,  the  thiefe  praies  ouer  our  heardlings, 

And  worse  then  the  thief,  the  Fox  praies  ouer  our  heardlings, 

Thus  we  poor  heardsmen  are  pinched  and  plagu'd  aboue  other. 

But  Spenser's  Thenot  finds  time  to  discourse  at  length  to  the 
unhappie  Cuddie,  and  ends  by  telling  his  willing  listener  a 
long  fable ;  Sabie's  Thirsis,  who  refuses  to  be  comforted  by  pro- 
verbial wisdom,  allows  himself  to  be  kept  awake,  and  evcji 
diverted,  by  Tyterus'  account  of  an  "  ancient  love."  And  the 
great  bulk  of  pastoral  literature  hardly  touches  upon  the  rugged 
ways  of  life ;  it  depicts  the  shepherd  of  Arcadia,  whether  Arca- 
dia be  England,  or  Italy,  or  France. 

Repeating  the  first  line  of  the  Eclogues  with  a  slight  varia- 
tion, Vergil  ends  his  fourth  Georgic: 

illo  Vergilium  me  tempore  dulcis  alebat 
Parthenope,  studiis  florentem  ignobilis  oti, 
carmina  qui  lusi  pastorum  audaxque  iuventa, 
Tityre,  te  patulae  cecini  sub  tegmine  fagi '" 

The  traditional  date  of  composition  of  the  Eclogues  is  from 
42  to  37  B.  c.  According  to  Vergil's  own  words  he  was  '  bold 
thru  youth  when  he  lightly  made  these  songs  of  shepherds  ' ;  ^^ 
it  is  natural  enough  that  they  should  be  mainly  concerned  with 
love  and  happiness.  The  Georgics  were  composed  later,  between 
the  years  37  and  30  b.  c,  when  the  poet  was  no  longer  bold, 
but  courageous  with  the  experience  and  wisdom  of  later  years. 
If  the  phrase  omnia  vincit  Amor  ^-  is  characteristic  of  the 
eclogue,  the  phrase  labor  omnia  vicit  ^^  is  even  more  character- 

'Tc/.  I.  1.     Tityre,  tu  patulae  recubans  sub  tegmine  fagi. 

"  Oeorg.  iv,  565.  "  Eel.  X,  69.  *'  Qeorg.  i,  145. 


24  The  Georgic 

istic  of  the  georgic ;  for  the  georgic  is  concerned  mostly  with 
work,  little  with  leisure,  altho  it  depicts  the  farmer's  life 
thru  all  seasons  of  the  year.  It  shows  glimpses  of  rural 
festivities,  as  in  i,  299  if.,  ii,  385  if.,  ii,  527  if,,  and  idyllically 
peaceful  scenes  that  have  the  golden  age  quality  of  the  pastoral, 
as  in  the  closing  passages  of  the  second  book.  But  thruout 
these  scenes,  upheld  by  a  noble  ideal,  the  poet  writes  in  a  far 
higher  key  than  in  the  pastoral.  Unlike  the  shepherd  lad,  the 
husbandman  bears  the  responsibility  of  ownership,  the  weight 
of  family  cares.  Tilling  his  soil,  or  in  moments  of  enforced 
leisure,  making  ready  the  "  arms  "  with  which  to  conquer  the 
difhculties  in  his  way,  he  takes  earnest  thought  how  he  may  get 
the  best  from  that  which  is  his  own,  and  provide  for  the  family 
that  depends  upon  him.  He  wastes  no  time  lamenting  scorned 
aifection,  nor  does  he  spend  words  vaunting  the  beauty  of  his 
love.  He  rejoices  calmly  in  the  happiness  of  wedded  life, — 
his  sweet  children  hang  on  his  neck,  his  '  chaste  house  keeps 
its  purity.'  ^^  The  greatness  of  Rome  depends  upon  a  virtuous 
familj!^  life,  upon  '  a  youth  enduring  in  labour,  accustomed  to 
frugality.'  ^^^ 

But  while  in  the  Georgics  Vergil  shows  glimpses  of  a  golden 
age  and  the  gifts  that  Earth  offers  of  herself,  he  never  lets  his 
reader  quite  forget  the  necessity  of  constant  labor.  And  there 
is  realism  enough  in  the  often  quoted  lines,  iii^  66-68, 

Optima  quaeque  dies  miseris  mortalibus  aevi 
prima  fugit;   subeunt  morbi  tristisque  senectus 
et  labor,  et  durae  rapit  inclementia  mortis, 

and  in  the  account  of  the  evils  and  dangers  that  threaten  men 
daily,  from  the  small  annoyances  of  the  insatiable  goose  and 
the  Strymonian  crane  to  the  splendid  fury  of  devasting 
storms.  With  respect  to  their  treatment  of  rural  life,  Vergil'^ 
Bucolics  are  fittingly  called  Eclogues,  ^  selections.'  In  the 
Georgics  the  poet  attem])ts  to  deal  broadly  with  the  whole. 

With  respect  to  its  conventional  form,  the  georgic  may  be 
analyzed  as  follows: 

"  Oeorg.  ii,  524.  "«  Georg.  ii,  472. 


Tlie  Relation  of  the  Georgia  to  the  Pastoral 


25 


Subject  matter : 
Central  theme: 


Treatment 


Chief  features: 


A  rural  occupation. 

The  glorification  of  labor;  the  praise  of 
simple  country  life  in  contrast  with  the 
troubled  luxury  of  palaces. 

Didactic,  with  precepts  varied  bv  digres- 
sions arising  from  the  theme,  or  related 
to  the  subject  matter. 

Formal  opening,  a  statement  of  the  sub- 
ject: this  followed  bj  an  invocation  to 
the  Muses  or  other  guiding  spirits. 

Address  to  the  poet's  patron. 

Panegyrics  of  great  men. 

Mythological  allusions. 

References  to  foreign  lands,  itheir  pro- 
ducts, climate,  customs. 

Time  marked  bv  the  position  of  the  con- 
stellations. 

Proverbial  sayings. 

Moralizations  and  philosophical  reflections. 

Discussion  of  the  Golden  Age. 

Discussion  of  weather  signs. 

Description  of  country  pastimes. 

Descriptions  of  Nature. 

Love  of  peace;,  horror  of  war. 

A  lament  over  present  day  evils,  which  are 
contrasted  with  the  virtues  and  glories 
of  the  past. 

Rhapsody  on  the  poet's  native  land. 

A  long  narrative  episode, — in  Vergil,  the 
story  of  Aristaeus. 


26        ■  The  Georgic 

2.  The  Pastoral,  a  literary  type  of  frequent  occurrence, 
made  famous  hy  great  poets;  the  Georyic,  a  literary 
type  coincidentally  neglected. 

The  "  abundance  of  criticism  "  spent  on  tlie  pastoral,  and 
the  coincident  neglect  of  the  georgic  is  easily  explained;  in 
part,  bj  the  frequent  occurrence  of  the  former  type,  the  com- 
parative rarity  of  the  latter;  in  part,  by  the  great  beauty  of 
certain  pastoral  compositions,  the  tediousness  of  almost  all 
georgic  poetry.  A  type  of  poetry  of  frequent  occurrence  neces- 
sarily excites  critical  interest.  If,  at  its  first  appearance,  a 
literary  product  is  justly  condemned,  criticism,  like  the  unfor- 
tunate effort  itself,  is  apt  to  die  soon;  but  if  for  any  reason 
worth  considering  a  composition  takes  a  strong  hold  on  the 
public,  tho  only  temporarily,  it  is  assured  a  certain  importance 
in  literary  history ;  and  if  a  work  may  be  rightly  judged  a 
classic,  younger  critics  will  constantly  arise,  inspired  to  discuss 
it  from  different  points  of  view.  A  type  of  poetry,  difficult  in 
form,  infrequent  of  occurrence,  and  seldom  successful  as  litera- 
ture, naturally  excites  scant  comment,  and  that  rarely  of  a 
kind  to  beget  new  critical  effort. 

Many  poets,  among  them  the  greatest  and  the  least,  have 
written  pastorals.  It  requires  no  especial  courage  to  take  up 
the  oaten  reed.  The  poet  has  little  to  lose  by  failure;  if  he 
succeed,  he  knows  that  the  world  will  listen  in  spite  of  itself. 
\_But  no  great  poet  since  Vergil  has  written  a  georgicj  and 
comparatively  few  of  the  minor  poets  have  attempted  the  task. 
Burns,  who,  as  far  as  practical  experience  goes,  was  best  fitted 
to  appreciate  a  georgic,  or  to  attempt  to  write  one,  declares 
upon  reading  "  Dryden's  Virgil  "  that  he  considers  the  Georgics 
"  by  far  the  best  of  Virgil,"  and  that  "  this  species  of  writing  " 
has  filled  him  with  "  a  thousand  fancies  of  emulation."  ^^  But 
when  he  compared  his  powers  with  VergiFs,  his  courage  failed. 
Robert  Anderson  ^®  expresses  the  opinion  that  to  write  a  truly 

"Letter  to  Mrs.  Dunlop,  May  4,  1778. 

"  British  Poets,  Vol.  xi.     Preface  to  Dodsley's  "  Agriculture." 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  27 

excellent  georgic  is  one  of  the  greatest  efforts  of  the  human 
mind.  And  the  frequent  attacks  upon  didactic  poetry  in  gen- 
eral, upon  georg-ic  poetry  in  particular,  indeed  the  occasional 
defenses  of  the  georgic,  emphasize  the  fact,  that,  to  attempt 
this  form  of  writing,  one  must  have  the  courage  that  leads  to 
an  undertaking  which  promises  almost  certain  defeat. 

In  the  period  immediately  following  Vergil,  the  pastoral  as 
a  genre  had  apparently  lost  popular  favor.  Earlier  than 
Calpurnius  '^'^  there  appear  to  have  been  no  imitators  of 
either  Theocritus  or  Vergil  whose  work  survived.^*  Of  the 
writers  following  Calpurnius,  only  oSTemesianus  is  named  as 
worthy  of  any  regard.  Boccaccio,  however,  in  a  summary  of 
the  history  of  pastoral  verse,  includes  both  Calpurnius  and 
Xemesianus  in  his  contemptuous  utterances  concerning  pastoral 
writers.  He  names  '  the  Syracusan  Theocritus  '  and  '  Vergil, 
who  wrote  in  Latin,'  then  adds :  "  Post  hunc  autem  scripserunt 
et  alii,  sed  ignobiles,  de  quibus  nil  curandum  est,  excepto  inclyto 
Praeceptore  meo  Francisco  Petrarca  ".^^ 

Of  the  stream  of  pastoral  poetry  during  the  Middle  Ages, 
Greg  observes  ^^  that  "  though  it  nowhere  actually  disappears,  it 
is  reduced  to  the  merest  trickle."  From  the  fourth  to  the  tenth 
century,  isolated  examples  occur  that  served  to  preserve  the 
classical  memory  of  the  pastoral,  reworked,  however,  with  new 
meanings  and  new  associations  under  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

With  the  fourteenth  century,  a  new  and  brilliant  epoch  be- 
gins in  the  history  of  the  pastoral.     In  the  sixteenth  century, 
Spenser  found   the  genre   "  a  literary  mode  that  beyond  all      A 
others  lent  itself  to  the  expression  of  his  complex  emotions."  ^^ 

"  Calpurnius'  dates  are  uncertain.  He  is  sometimes  supposed  to  have 
lived  at  the  end  of  the  third  century.  For  a  clear  discussion  of  the  subject, 
cp.  C.  H.  Keene,  The  Eclogues  of  Calpurnius  and  Nemesianus,  London,  1887. 

"  Cp.  Conington  on  "  The  Later  Bucolic  Poets  of  Rome,"  op.  cit.,  Vol. 
I,  p.  114. 

^'' Lett  ere  di  G.  Boccaccio,  ed.  Corrazini,  p.  267.  See  Walter  W.  Greg, 
Pastoral  Poetry  and  Pastoral  Drama,  London,  1906,  p.  18. 

*"  Op.  cit.,  p.  18.  "  Herford,  op.  cit.     Introd.,  p.  xxvi. 


28  The  Georgic 

E.  K.  counts  among  Spenser's  predecessors,  Theocritus,  Ver- 
gil, Mantnan,  Boccaccio,  Marot,  Sannazaro,  *'  and  also  divers 
other  excellent  both  Italian  and  French  poets,  whose  footing 
,this  author  every  where  followeth."  Spenser  was  the  chief 
British  influence  in  the  popularizing  of  the  conventional  pas- 
toral ;  but  the  form  occurs  in  British  verse  as  early  as  the 
fifteenth  century,  in  Henryson's  Robin  and  Makene ;  and  be- 
fore that  the  shepherd  stories  of  the  Bible  had  been  made  fa- 
miliar to  English  audiences  in  the  vernacular  drama,  and  in 
the  liturgical  plays  of  the  Nativity.  From  Spenser's  time  on, 
the  pastoral  is  found  in  England,  as  on  the  continent,  in  more 
or  less  closely  related  groups,  and  in  varying  types  of  varying 
worth. 

The  georgic,  a  t}"pe  of  poetry  that  except  in  some  of  its 
eighteenth-century  developments  cannot  be  said  ever  to  have 
made  a  truly  popular  appeal,  is  in  its  recurrences  compara- 
tively rare.  While  Vergil  was  yet  living,  parts  of  his  Georgics 
appear  to  have  been  parodied.-"  Gratius,  who  was  contempo- 
rary with  Vergil,  wrote  a  treatise  on  hunting,  evidently  imi- 
tating the  model  of  the  Georgics.  In  the  first  century  after 
Christ,  Columella  felt  it  a  sacred  duty  to  develop  Vergil's  sketch 
of  gardens,  Georg.  iv.  116-148.  In  the  second  century,  Op- 
pian  of  Cilicia  wrote  his  so-called  golden  verses  on  the  ''  Fisher- 
man's Art,"  the  Halieutica,  and  somewhat  later  another  Op- 
pian  (of  Apamea)  wrote  a  poetic  treatise  on  hunting,  five 
books  of  which  are  extant.  In  the  third  century,  Xemesianus 
composed  a  poem  on  hunting,  more  like  the  treatise  of  Gratius 
than  that  of  Oppian  of  Apamea.  In  the  fourth  century,  Pal- 
ladius,  imitating  Columella,  wrote  in  elegiac  verse,  on  the 
cultivation  of  trees  (Bk.  xiv  of  his  Husbandry).  How  much 
poetry  in  imitation  of  the  Vergilian  didactics  may  have  seen 
the  light  from  the  fourth  to  the  thirteenth  century,  only  to  be 
buried  sooner  or  later  in  obscurity,  I  cannot  say.  I  know  of 
nothing  in  the  nature  of  a  georgic  during  this  period,  except 

"  Cp.  Addison :  Essay  on  the  Oeorgics. 


The  Belatioii  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  29 

the  poem  that  Biese  -^  calls  '*  the  much-read  Hortulus,''  Walah- 
frid  Strabo's  De  Cultura  Hortorum,  "  an  idyll  of  the  cloister 
garden/'  written  about  820. 

In  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  there  occur  in 
France  a  number  of  treatises  in  verse  on  the  noble  arts  of  hunt- 
ing and  hawking ;  ^'^  and  a  poetical  treatise  on  fishing,  entitled 
De  Vetula,  is  said  to  have  been  written  bv  Richard  de  Fourni- 
val  at  this  period.-'^  In  the  fourteenth  century,  in  Italy, 
Paganino  Bonafede  wrote  some  verse  precepts  on  agriculture, 
entitled  II  Tesoro  dei  Rusticij  ^®  but  no  one  seems  to  have  con- 
sidered the  effort  worth  publication.  In  the  fifteenth  century, 
very  little  is  found ;  Halliwell  and  Wright  "'  print  a  Fragment 
of  a  Poem  on  Falconry,  written  in  French  at  the  beginning  of 
the  period.  Dame  Juliana  Berner's  verse  treatise  on  "  Ve- 
nerie  "  made  part  of  the  famous  Boke  of  St.  Alhan's,  which 
appeared  in  1486.  To  the  year  1420,  is  referred  the  curious 
old  English  poem  by  Piers  of  Fulham,  entitled  "  Vayne  con- 
seytes  of  folysche  love  undyr  colour  of  fyscheng  and  fowl- 
yng,"  ^^  a  composition  less  interesting  as  an  attempt  at  an  alle- 
gory than  for  its  information  concerning  fish  and  fowl.  Some- 
time in  the  period  following  Chaucer,  an  unknown  English 
writer  put  the  treatise  of  Palladius  on  Hiishandnj  into  Chau- 
cerian stanzas,  with  original  prologues  and  epilogues,  and  occa- 
sional moralizations  of  his  own ;  and  one  original  English  pro- 

^^  A.  Biese,  The  Development  of  the  Feeling  for  Nature  in  the  Middle 
Ages  and  Modern  Times,  translated  from  the  German.    London,  1905,  p.  61. 

"  Cp.  E.  Jullien,  La  Chasse.  Son  Histoire  et  sa  Legislation.  Paris. 
Aubertin,  Hist,  de  la  Langue  et  de  la  Litt.  Francaises  au  Moyen  Age 
d'apr^s  les  Travaux  les  plus  recents.     Paris,  1878,  T.  ii,  pp.  64  ff. 

®  See  "  The  Angler's  Library,"  The  Edinburgh  Review,  Vol.  158,  1883, 
p.  160.  The  writer  states  that  the  De  Vetula  was  formerly  attributed  to 
Ovid.     I  have  been  unable  to  identify  E.  de  Foiirnival. 

*«  Cp.  Tiraboschi,  op.  cit.,  T.  V,  ir,  864. 

"  T.  Wright  and  J.  O.  Halliwell,  Reliquae  Antiquae,  London,  1841.  Vol. 
I,  p.  310. 

^  Reprinted  by  W.  C.  Hazlitt,  in  Remains  of  the  Early  Popular  poetry  of 
England,  Vol.  ii.  London,  1866.  For  the  date  of  the  poem,  see  J.  J.  Man- 
ley,  "  Literature  of  Sea  and  River  Fishing,"  Intcrnat.  Fisheries  Exhibi- 
tion, 1833,  The  Fisheries  Exhibition  Literature,  Vol.  iii,  p.  563. 


30  The  Georgic 

duction,  georgic  tho  not  Vergilian,  belongs  to  the  fifteenth 
century,  a  treatise  in  verse  by  "  Mayster  John  Gardener  "  en- 
titled the  Feate  of  Gardening.^^  In  Italy,  Poliziano's  Riisticiis 
appeared  in  1483,  a  Latin  poem  still  highly  praised,  which 
Dunlop  ^^  describes  as  "  an  abridgement  of  the  Georgics."  Be- 
fore 1500,  Gioviano  Pontano  imitated  certain  features  of  the 
Georgics  in  his  Urwma,  and  in  his  didactic  poem  Meteora;  and 
he  produced  a  true  Vergilian  georgic  in  the  De  Hortis  Hesper- 
idum. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  the  pastoral  is  a  favorite  type  of 
poetry  in  Italy  and  France.  With  the  publication  of  the  Shep- 
heards  Calendar  the  genre  in  England  enters  upon  a  golden 
age.  Until  the  end  of  the  century  the  pastoral  holds  its  vogue. 
Critics  may  scorn  the  type  as  they  will,  but  they  cannot  disre- 
gard the  instrument  that  Spenser  and  Ben  Jonson  and  Shake- 
speare saw  fit  to  adapt  to  their  needs.  [The  pastoral  conven- 
tions lend  themselves  readily  to  affectations  and  artificialities, 
but  they  are  forms  in  which  the  poet  may  express  lyric  joy  and 
sorrow,  romantic  emotion,  dramatic  passionJ  The  georgic,  pri- 
marily didactic,  purporting  to  treat  of  practical  arts,  offered 
little  appeal  to  an  age  in  which  life  seemed  a  great  adventure. 
Representative  Elizabethans  seem  to  have  found  no  possibili- 
ties in  the  Vergilian  type  of  didactic  poetry.  So  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  discover,  Thomas  Tusser  and  Thomas  Moffat  are 
the  only  sixteenth-century  Englishmen  who  regarded  georgic 
precepts  as  matter  fit  for  verse.  In  1557,  appeared  Tusser's 
Hundreth  Pointes  of  Goode  Hushandry ,  later  augmented  to 
Five  Hundred  Pointes,  a  "  profitable,  and  not  unpleasant  " 
georgic,  which,  however,  owes  nothing  to  the  Vergilian  conven- 
tions. Moffat's  poem  was  not  printed  until  1599.  Collier  ^^ 
quotes  the  title  page  as  follows,  "  The  Silkewormes  and  Their 
Flies:    Lively  described  in  verse  by  T.  M.  a  Countrie  Farmar. 

^' Archaeologia,  London,  1894. 
"  Op.  cit.,  p.  138. 

"J.  P.  Collier,  A  Bibliographical  Account  of  the  Rarest  Books  in  the 
English  Language.     London,  186.'),  Vol.  i,  p.  5^9. 


The  Relation,  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  31 

and  an  apprentice  in  Physicke.  For  the  great  benefit  and  en- 
riching of  England.  Printed  at  Loudon  by  V.  S.  for  Nicholas 
Ling,  and  are  to  be  sold  at  his  sIkhi  at  the  West  End  of  Panics. 
1599.  4to.,  41  leaves.^'  Collier  infonns  the  reader  that  near 
the  close  of  the  first  book,  the  poet  mentions  having  been  in 
Italy,  adding  in  a  marginal  note  that  this  was  twenty  years 
before  he  published  his  poem.  Moffat's  Italian  visit  is  a  simple 
explanation  of  this  late  sixteenth-century  English  georgic.  The 
art  of  raising  silkworms  is  among  the  favorite  themes  of 
Italian  didactic  poets,  particularly  in  the  sixteenth  century. •'^- 

In  France  during  this  period  a  few  treatises  on  hunting  are 
found.^^  From  Jullien's  account  they  appear  to  be  written 
more  or  less  according  to  the  model  of  the  georgic.  Among 
them  is  Claude  Gauchet's  Plaisir  des  Champs,  an  interesting 
poem  in  which  pastoral  love  songs,  descriptions  of  the  chase, 
and  georgic  eclogues  are  mingled  at  the  poet's  fancy. 

In  Italy,  during  the  sixteenth  century,  so  great  was  the  ven- 
eration for  the  classics,  that  not  only  was  the  pastoral  a  favorite 
fashion,  but  the  georgic  too,  for  the  first  time  in  its  history, 
received  notable  appreciation  as  a  genre.  The  georgic  themes, 
and  the  georgic  plan  are  adapted  to  many  subjects  treated  both 
in  Latin  and  in  Italian  verse:  didactics  on  general  agriculture, 
as  Luigi  Alamanni's  Coltivazione  and  Tansillo's  Podere;  on 
special  branches  of  farming,  as  Pierio  Yaleriano's  De  Milacis 
Cultura,  and  the  poems  of  Giustolo  da  Spoleto,  Vida,  and  Te- 
sauro  on  silkworms;  on  rural  sports,  as  Valvasone's  Caccia;  on 
seafaring,  as  Baldi's  Nautica.  In  Tansillo's  Balia  noble  ladies 
are  exhorted  to  nurse  their  own  children,  and  the  same  w^riter's 
Yendemmiatore,  characterized  by  Greg  ^^  as  ''  one  of  those  ob- 
scene debauches  of  fancy  which  throw  a  lurid  light  on  the  lux- 
urious imagination  of  the  age,"  may  be  considered  as  a  bur- 
lesque of  a  noble  georgic  theme. 

"  Cp.  the  following  list:  Lodovico  Lazzarelli,  11  Bombyx,  1493;  P.  Gius- 
tolo da  Spoleto,  De  .Sfrre,  1510;  Girolamo  Vida,  Boinhjices,  l.^'ZT;  Alessandro 
Tesauro,  La  ficreide.  1585;  Zaccaria  Betti,  II  Baro  da  f^eia,  1756. 

*"  See  Jullien,  op.  cit.,  ch.  x  and  xi.  **  Op.  cit.,  p.  32. 


32  The  Georgic 

111  the  seventeenth  century,  the  golden  age  of  pastoral  is 
ended ;  nevertheless,  the  genre  persists,  chieily  in  the  forms  of 
the  l^^ric  and  of  the  drama.  John  Donne  and  Herrick  are 
found  among  English  writers  of  pastoral  lyrics ;  Milton  reaches 
the  "  high  w^^ter  mark  of  poetry  ''  in  Lycidas,  and  immortalizes 
the  pastoral  masque  in  Comius.  The  period  furnishes  little 
material  for  the  history  of  the  georgic.  I  know  of  nothing  of 
the  type  in  Italy,  except  Nicolo  Partenio  Giannettasio's  Ha- 
lieutica,  a  work  that  I  have  been  unable  to  see.  In  1613,  John 
Dennys'  Secrets  of  Angling,  a  poem  based  manifestly,  if  not 
professedly,  on  the  model  of  the  Yergilian  didactics,  was  pub- 
lished at  London.^^  In  1665,  Rene  Rapin's  Horti  was  pub- 
lished at  Paris.  Dennys'  Secrets  probably  set  other  English 
writers  scribbling  verses  on  the  gentle  craft.^*'  Kapin's  HoHi 
may  have  incited  Richard  Richardson  to  write  a  Carmen  de 
Cultu  Hortorwn,  published  at  London,  1669.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  if  the  seventeenth  century  begot  many  other  georgics,  they 
have  either  perished  or  become  lost  in  obscurity.  One  must 
look  to  the  eighteenth  century  for  the  culmination  of  the  type. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  great  deal  is 
heard  about  the  pastoral.  English  critics,  influenced  by  the 
French  view^s  of  Fontenelle  and  Rapin  ^''  are  pleased  to  dis- 
course upon  the  true  nature  of  pastoral  poetry ;  English  poets 
continue  to  write  pastorals.  The  story  of  the  Philips-Pope 
controversy  is  not  a  highly  edifying  chapter  iii  the  history  of 
English  literature,  but  because  of  it  John  Gay  wrote  the  Shep- 
herd's Week.  The  pastorals  of  Pope  and  Philips  are  artificial 
specimens  of  the  genre;  and  it  is  generally  agreed  that  in  the 
eighteenth  century  the  type  is  brought  to  be  a  thing  of  scorn. 

"  The  date  of  composition  of  tliis  poem  is  uncertain.  John  Dennys  died 
in  1609. 

"See,  for  example,  Thomas  Barker,  Barkei-'s  Delight:  or  the  Art  of 
Angling,  1657;  S.  Ford,  Piscatio,  or  Angling,  a  poem  written  originally  in 
Latin,  1692,  translated  by  Tipping  Sylvester,  1732;  The  Innocent  Epi- 
cure, or  The  Art  of  Angling,  A  Poem  (attributed  to  Nahum  Tate).  Lon- 
don, 1697. 

"  Cp.  Greg.     Op.  rit..  p.  415. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  33 

Yet,  even  among  eighteenth-century  pastorals  there  are  found 
compositions  of  undeniable  charm;  in  the  Shepherd's  Week, 
Gay  proved  himself  truly  a  poet;  Shenstone  has  nowhere  so 
light  and  delicate  a  touch  as  in  his  Pastoral  Ballad;  and  Allan 
Kamsay's  Gentle  Shepherd  can  still  be  read  with  delight. 

In  1697,  Addison  made  his  complaint  about  the  critics'  ne- 
glect of  Vergil's  Georgics.^^  Up  to  that  time,  unless  Moffat's 
Silhwormes  be  excepted,  no  true  English  georgic  of  the  Ver- 
gilian  type  seems  to  have  appeared.  John  Gardener's  verses 
are  rudely  made  precepts ;  Tussers's  Husbandry  though  less  rude 
is  no  more  Vergilian  than  John  Gardener's  effort.  John  Den- 
nys  WTote  not  of  husbandry,  but  of  angling,^^  and  Dennys  is 
not  concerned  with  the  pursuit  of  the  sport  as  a  means  of  sup- 
plying the  larder,  but  rather  with  the  exercise  of  gentlemanly 
\artues  and  gentlemanly  skill.  Dennys'  seventeenth-century 
followers  probably  wrote  in  much  the  same  vein.  John  Barker, 
to  be  sure,  gives  recipes  in  verse  for  the  cooking  of  fish,  but 
altho  his  verses  are  a  shade  more  skilfull  than  those  of  John 
Gardener,  his  worst  enemy  could  hardly  have  accused  him  of 
having  tried  to  imitate  Vergil. 

In  1700,  there  is  found  an  angling  poem,  entitled  The  Gentle 
Recreation,  or  the  Pleasures  of  Angling,  a  slight  work,  written 
rather  pleasantly,  by  John  Whitney,  "  a  Lover  of  the  Angle," 
and,  from  the  testimony  of  his  verses,  a  lover  of  Vergil.  In 
1706,  appeared  the  first  English  poem  of  any  importance,  in 
which  a  true  georgic  theme  is  treated  in  the  manner  and  spirit 
of  Vergil's  Georgics,  John  Philips'  Cyder.  The  influence  of 
this  didactic  on  English  poetry  of  the  eighteenth  century  was 
considerable.  No  one  has  ever  suggested  that  it  had  any  in- 
fluence on  French  and  Italian  poetry.     Perry,^^  however,  states 

'^  Cp.  above,  p.  1. 

'*  It  is  interesting  to  note,  however,  that  in  the  Epitome  of  the  Art  of 
Husbandry,  by  I.  B.  Gent,  London,  1669,  there  are  "  brief  Experimental 
Directions  for  the  right  use  of  the  Angle."  See  W.  B.  Daniel,  Rural  Sports, 
London,  1812.     Supplement,  p.  16. 

**  T.  S.  Perry,  English  Literature  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  N.  Y., 
Harper  and  Brothers,  1883,  p.  139. 


34  The  Georgic 

that  Cyder  was  much  admired  in  Italy,  and  that  it  was  trans- 
lated into  Italian.  In  1749,  the  Abbe  Yart  translated  Philips' 
georgic  into  French.  Whether  or  not  it  had  been  put  into 
French  before  then,  I  am  not  able  to  sav. 

It  is  hazardous  to  suggest  that  Italian  interest  in  georgic 
poetry  needed  to  be  revived  thru  England's  example.  Yet  the 
fashion  of  the  georgic  seems  to  have  sprung  into  European  favor 
along  with  the  Anglomania  naanifested  in  the  passion  for 
English  gardens.  In  Italy,  as  in  France,  I  know  of  nothing  in 
the  nature  of  an  eighteenth-century  Vergilian  didactic,  previous 
to  the  publication  of  Thomson's  Seasons  in  1744,  Philips'  geor- 
gic may  or  may  not  have  aroused  interest  in  a  type  of  poetry 
never  before  held  in  much  favor  by  the  French,  and,  apparently^ 
neglected  by  the  Italians  for  more  than  a  hundred  years.  There 
is  no  doubt,  however,  of  the  great  influence  of  Thomson  on 
European  poetry  in  general.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Seasons 
were  read,  translated  and  imitated  by  almost  all  the  civilized 
nations  of  Europe.  {Thomson  has  been  called  ''  the  father  of 
the  landscape  garden ;"  certainly  he  made  nature  poetry  a 
literary  fashion.  Suddenlv,  thru  him,  the  world-old  course  of 
the  months  and  the  seasons  seemed  to  reveal  to  the  poets  sen- 
sations as  enchantingly  new  as  the  emotions  of  love.  The  hus- 
bandman's life  was  to  be  sung  once  more  as  the  ideal  existence!] 
Saint  Lambert '*^  writes  thus:  "La  poesie  champetre  s'est  en- 
richie  dans  ce  siecle  d'un  genre  qui  a  ete  inconnu  aux  anciennes. 
....  Les  Anglois  et  les  Allemands  ont  cree  le  genre  de  la 
poesie  descriptive;  les  anciens  aimoient  et  chantoient  la  cam- 
pagne,  nous  admirons  et  nous  chantons  la  nature."  Further 
on  in  his  preliminary  discourse,  the  poet  speaks  of  his  Saisons 
as  georgics  made  for  those  who  possess  the  fields,  not  for  those 
who  cultivate  them.  Other  poets,  imitating  the  Vergilian 
model,  as  Thomson  adapts  it  to  his  use  in  the  Seasons,  give 
their  efforts  the  sub-title  "  georgiques  franQaises."  ^- 

"  Op.  cit.,  p.  XV. 

**  See,  for  example,  J.  Delille,  L'Homme  des  Champs,  on  Les  Q^orgiques 
Francoises,  op.  above,  poF.  J.  de  Bernis,  Tjes  Quatre  Saisovs,  on  Les  Georgi- 
ques Francoises,  first  published,  Paris,  1763). 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgw  to  the  Pastoral  35 

J^o  the  influence  of  both  Philips  and  Thomson  the  long  list 
of  eighteenth-century  English  imitations  of  the  Georgics  must 
be  ascribed!]  Philips  and  Thomson  were  wise  enough,  or  for- 
tunate enough,  to  choose  a  model  that  appealed  strongly  to  Eng- 
lish poets  of  their  day.  j^aturally,  in  a  neo-classic  age,  Vergil 
was  reverenced  as  a  classic  writer.  A  great  poet,  he  had  loved 
the  outdoor  world,  and  he  had  read  into  the  heart  of  Nature. 
More  than  this,  he  had  prayed  the  Muses  to  reveal  to  him  the 
causes  of  things,  and  he  had  woven  into  his  didactics  something 
of  the  philosophic  and  scientiiic  beliefs  of  the  ancients.  As  a 
model,  he  made  a  strong  appeal  to  the  new  school  of  poets,  who 
yearned  to  sing  in  praise  of  country  life;  and  he  made  an 
equally  strong  appeal  to  the  eighteenth-century  taste  that  de- 
lighted in  attempts  to  poetize  science  and  philosophy.  Much 
of  Vergil's  teaching  foimd  sympathetic  response  in  the  eigh- 
teenth-century mind.  His  plan  furnished  opportunity  for 
moralizing  and  philosophizing,  and  it  offered  the  advantage  of 
the  introduction  of  narrative  episodes.  Thomson  modified  Ver- 
gil's plan  at  his  pleasure.  Other  poets  who  imitated  Thomson 
attempted  also  to  imitate  the  Georgics  in  all  their  features. 
Thruout  the  century,  georgics  of  various  kinds  are  found.  In 
France,  one  finds  a  comparatively  long  list  of  eighteenth-century 
didactics  of  the  Vergilian  type.  In  Italy,  not  only  is  the  genre 
revived  in  a  long  series  of  new  attempts,  but  sixteenth-century 
Italian  georgics  are  brought  into  the  light,  read  and  reread  as 
masterpieces  of  Italian  genius.  In  England  and  France,  as 
well  as  in  Italy,  it  becomes  the  fashion  not  only  to  imitate 
Vergil,  but  to  imitate  old  and  new  imitations  of  Vergil.  Early 
Vergilian  didactics  appear  in  reprints  and  translations.'*"'*  Al- 
most every  variety  of  the  georgic  occurs,  from  treatises  on  gen- 
eral farm  life  like  Vaniere's  Praedium  Rusticum  and  Dodsley's 

*'  One  finds,  for  example,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  French,  English  and 
Italian  translations  of  Oppian's  Ci/negetica  ;  Englis)i  and  Italian  transla- 
tions of  Oppian's  Halieutica.  From  1716  to  1781,  Alamanni's  Coltvvazione 
was  printed  twenty  times:  Tansillo's  Podere  and  La  Balia  were  printed  fo^ 
the  first  time  in  1769,  and  /yo  Balia  was  translated  into  English  in  1798  as 
The  Nurse,  by  William  Roscommon. 


36  The  Georgic 

Agricvlture  to  burlesques  like  Gay's  Trivm,  in  which  the  Ver- 
gilian  conventions  are  used  in  a  poem  treating  of  the  art  of 
walking  London  streets.  The  eighteenth-century  vogue  of  the 
Vergilian  type  of  didactic  poetry  is  among  the  most  interest- 
ing phenomena  of  an  age  pre-eminently  interesting  in  the  his- 
tory of  literary  developments. 

The  pastoral,  as  has  been  seen,  played  a  not  unimportant 
part  in  the  literary  history  of  the  early  eighteenth  century.  In 
the  nineteenth  century,  it  remained  for  Shelley  and  Matthew 
Arnold  to  stir  the  world  with  the  supreme  beautv'  of  their 
pastoral  laments.  True  to  classic  traditions,  Tennyson's 
Oenone  wails  in  bitterness  the  unfaith  of  her  royal  shepherd. 
The  English  Idyls  are  reminiscent  of  the  Syracusan  poet.  Pro- 
fessor Mustard  thinks  that  '  the  very  title  of  these  poems  is 
meant  to  suggest  their  close  relationship  to  the  Idyls  of  The- 
ocritus '.^*  The  traditions  of  the  ages  are  not  easily  over- 
thrown. Even  in  the  twentieth  century,  pastorals  may  still  be 
found,  poems  of  modern  life,  in  a  setting  of  rural  beauty  and 
outward  peace,  eternally  old ;  but  tliese  poems  fall  under  the 
broad  definition  of  the  pastoral,  the  conventional  type  seems 
at  last  to  have  become  a  dead  fashion. 

In  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  georgic  type 
still  persists,  examples  occurring  in  French,  in  English,  and 
in  Italian.*^  T.  Deyeux's  Chassomanie,  a  didactic  on  the 
chase,  appeared  as  late  as  1844.  However,  even  to  scholars, 
most  of  these  productions  are  generally  unknown,  and  unless 
Deyeux's  curious  poem  be  excepted,  it  may  be  said  that  after 

■"  W.  P.  Mustard  in  The  Classical  Weekly,  viii,  166.  For  a  complete  dis- 
cussion of  the  relation  of  Tennyson  to  Theocritus,  see  W.  P.  Mustard, 
Classical  Echoes  in  Tennyson,  N.  Y.,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1904,  ch.  iii. 

*"  Among  these  specimens  may  be  mentioned  Delille's  Homme  des  Champs, 
1800;  J.  E.  Esmenard's  Naingation,  1804;  an  anonymous  poem  on  Foirling, 
1808;  James  Grahame's  British  Georgics,  1809;  Thomas  Pike  Lathy's  bold 
fraud,  The  Anglers,  1819;  ilazzoni,  op.  cit.,  p.  78,  names  a  list  of  Italian 
didactics,  presumably  of  the  Verffilian  type,  such  as  C.  Arici's  La  coUiva- 
zione  degli  ulivi,  1805;  Lorenzo  Crico's  La  coltivazione  del  grano-turco, 
1812. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  37 

the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  genre  seems  to 
have  passed  completely  out  of  existence.  The  fate  of  the  Ver- 
gilian  didactic  appears  to  be  sealed,  until  in  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury at  least  two  remarkable  developments  of  the  type  are 
found  in  the  Primi  Poemetti  of  Giovanni  Pasooli,*^  and  in  Les 
Georgiques  chretiennes  of  Francis  Jammes ;  *'^  Pascoli's  Poem- 
etti, idylls  of  country  life  that  Miss  Kuth  Shepherd  ^^  calls  "  a 
kind  of  modern  Italian  georgics,  dealing  under  the  same  skies 
and  against  the  same  landscapes  with  the  descendants  of  those 
who  ploughed  or  kept  bees  in  the  Vergilian  poems;"  Jammes' 
(reorgiques  chretiennes,  religious  idylls  of  the  French  hus- 
bandman, poems  that  Miss  Amy  Lowell  describes  as  "  a  whole 
book  dealing  with  the  agricultural  labors  of  a  year  "."^^ 

3.    Variations  in  the  development  of  the  Georgic  compared 
with  variations  in  the  development  of  the  Eclogue. 

\_  The  conventional  pastoral  occurs  chiefly  in  the  forms  of  tha 
eclogue,  the  lyric,  the  pastoral  romance,  and  the  pastoral  dramaj 
The  eclogue  is,  in  itself,  inherently  lyric,  and  dramatic ;  and  in 
it  is  found  also  the  germ  of  romance.  The  evolution  of  the  type 
comes  about  naturally,  since  evolution  is  the  nature  of  living 
things. 

It  has  been  seen  that  even  in  the  hands  of  Vergil  the  pas- 
toral as  a  literary  form  shows  development,  for  in  Eclogue  IV 
Vergil  professedly  uses  the  panegyric  in  a  rural  song,^^  and 
continually  in  his  "  carmina  j)astorum/'  he  veils  an  undercur-  / 
rent  of  allusion,  personal  and  political.  From  time  to  time, 
later  writers  continue  to  adapt  the  old  conventions  to  new 

*•  Bologna,  Ditta  Nicola  Zanichelli,  1907. 
"  Paris,  Mercure  de  France,  1914. 

*  See  Miss   Shepherd's   article,   "  Giovanni   Pascoli,"   in   the  North  Am. 
Rev.,  July,   1916. 

^'Amy  Lowell,  Six  French  Poets,  N.  Y.,  Macmillan  Co.,  1915. 
°°  Sicelides  Musae,  paulo  maiora  canamua! 

Non  omnes  arbusta  iuvant  humilesque  myricae; 

Si  canimus  silvas,  silvae  sint  consule  dignae. 


38  The  Georgic 

themes.  As  early  as  Calpiirniiis,  a  poem  is  found  in  which 
georgic  subject  matter  is  used  in  the  eclogue  form.  Mycon, 
an  older  shepherd  in  Calpurnius'  fifth  Eclogue  instructs  his 
pupil,  Canthus,  concerning  the  management  of  sheep  and  goats. 
Eclogues  1,  TV  and  part  of  Eclogue  VII  are  in  praise  of  the 
Emperor.  They  are  written  in  strains  of  adulation  that  sug- 
gest Vergil's  address  to  Augiistus  in  the  first  Georgic;  but  the 
theme  of  panegyric,  as  has  been  observed,  is  not  new  in  the 
eclogue,  and  belongs  equally  to  the  conventions  of  the  pastoral 
and  of  the  georgic.  In  Eclogue  VII,  however,  a  new  theme 
occurs.  A  shepherd,  just  returned  from  the  town,  recounts  his 
experiences  for  the  benefit  of  an  untravelled  friend.  He  con- 
trasts the  life  of  the  town  with  that  of  the  country,  a  subject 
treated  frequently,  and  with  many  variations,  by  later  writers 
of  the  eclogue. 

In  the  middle  ages,  dating  from  the  end  of  the  fourth  or  the 
beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  the  old  forms  are  adapted  to 
Christian  themes.  The  eclogue  is  used  to  celebrate  the  praises 
of  the  "  saint  cross,"  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  Bible  stories, 
victorious  over  the  falsehood  of  pagan  myths,  to  voice  allegori- 
cal religious  laments,  and  to  give  honor  to  the  saints.  ^^ 

In  the  fourteenth  century,  Petrarch  discovered  the  value  of 
the  pastoral  machinery  as  a  vehicle  for  veiled  satire.  Boccaccio 
uses  the  traditional  pastoral  material  in  the  making  of  the  first 
modern  pastoral  romance. ^^  Mantuan  uses  it  for  direct  satire, 
introducing  the  diatribe  against  woman,  the  contrast  between 
town  and  city  dwellers,  the  denunciation  of  clerical  evils,  the 
contrast  between  a  virtuous  past  and  a  corrupt  present.^^  San- 
nazaro,  presumably  imitating  Idyll  XXI  of  Theocritus,  set  a 

"^  Cp.  Greg,  op.  cit.,  p.  19 ;  W.  P.  Mustard,  "  On  the  Pastoral  Ancient  and 
Modern,"  The  Classical  Weekly,  March  27,  1915,  p.  162. 

"  Sometime  between  the  second  and  the  sixth  century,  a  Greek,  called 
Longus,  wrote  the  pastoral  romance  of  Daphnis  and  Chloe.  Greg  thinks 
that  this  work  played  no  part  in  the  evolution  of  the  earliest  modern  sliep- 
herd  romances. 

"^  This  and  the  contrast  between  town  and  city  dwellers  are  also  favorite 
georgic  themes. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  39 

new  fashion  in  the  piscatory  eclogue,  in  which  he  makes  the 
speakers  fishermen,  instead  of  shepherds,  the  setting  "  pisca- 
tory," instead  of  pastoral. 

In  the  Comedia  nuova  pastorale  of  Giambattista  Casalio  of 
Faenza,  a  composition  placed  somewhat  before  1538,  Greg  ^^ 
recognizes  '*  what  may  almost  be  regarded  as  the  first  conscious 
attempt  to  write  a  pastoral  play."  There  seems,  however,  to 
be  no  adequate  treatment  of  the  evolution  of  the  pastoral 
drama.  Greg's  view  is  that  "  the  theatrical  tendency  first  ex- 
hibited itself  in  the  mere  recitation  of  a  dialogTie  in  character," 
the  earliest  example  of  these  so-called  ecloghe  rappresentatice 
being  identical  in  form  with  those  written  merely  for  literary 
circulation.^^  As  early  as  the  tenth  century,  European  audi- 
ences had  become  familiar  with  the  shepherd  figures  of  the 
religious  dramas,  and  later  with  the  shepherds  of  the  medieval 
miracle  plays.^®  However,  it  cannot  be  said  that  these  pastoral 
traditions  had  any  more  influence  on  the  evolution  of  the  mod- 
ern pastoral  drama  than  the  romance  of  Daphnis  and  Chloe  is 
said  to  have  had  on  the  modern  pastoral  romance.  Neverthe- 
less, in  the  case  of  English  literature  one  can  grant  that  "  the 
shepherd's  plays  of  the  religious  cycles,  the  popular  ballads, 
and  a  few  of  the  Scots  poets  of  the  time  of  Henryson,  all  alike 
furnish  verse  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  index  of  the  readi- 
ness of  the  popular  mind  to  receive  the  introduction  of  a  formal 
pastoral  tradition."  '" 

The  most  striking  minor  variations  in  the  pastoral  are  due, 
presumably,  to  Sannazaro  and  the  vogiie  of  his  piscatory 
eclogues.     "  Nautical  "  or  "  naval  eclogues  "  are  attempted  in 

"  Op.  eit.,  p.  172. 

^*  See  Greg,  "  On  the  Origin  and  Development  of  the  Italian  Pastoral 
Drama,"  op.  cit.,  App.  i,  p.  429. 

"  In  the  Towneley  Secunda  Pastorum,  the  shepherds  appear,  complaining 
like  Spenser's  Cuddie,  of  the  biting  cold.  They  also  enumerate  in  georgic 
fashion  a  list  of  the  evils  of  their  time.  In  the  Chester  Shepherd's  Play,  a 
remarkable  passage  is  introduced,  in  which,  in  the  manner  of  the  georgic, 
the  shepherds  discuss  the  diseases  of  sheep,  and  their  cures. 

"  See  Greg,  op.  cit.  p.  417. 


40  The  Georgic 

which  sailors  speak, ^^  "  venatory  eclogues,"  songs  of  huntsmen, 
"  vinitory  eclogues,"  songs  of  vine  dressers ;  "  sea  eclogues," 
songs  of  Tritons  and  mermen ;  and  "  mixed  eclogues,"  in  which 
the  speakers  are  a  fisherman  and  a  shepherd,  or  a  woodman, 
fisher,  and  a  swain."  ^^ 

In  the  eighteenth  century,  the  pastoral  formulas  are  bur- 
lesqued in  a  series  of  town  eclogues,®*^  and  further  variations  of 
the  type  are  found  in  Gay's  Quake?-  Eclogue,  in  Mrs.  Barliauld's 
School  Eclogue,  and  in  Shenstone's  Colemira,  A  Culinary 
Eclogus. 

The  georgic,  like  the  pastoral,  is  found  in  many  variations. 
Vergil  sings  of  tillage,  of  the  culture  of  trees,  of  cattle,  and  of 
the  "  divine  gift  of  aerial  honey."  The  poet  may  take  his 
choice  of  subject  from  any  special  branch  of  husbandry,  and 
write  a  poem  that  answers  to  the  definition  of  a  georgic  in  the 
narrowest  meaning  of  the  word.  Vergil,  (Georg.  iii^  404-413), 
tells  the  farmer  not  to  neglect  the  care  of  dogs,  useful  for  pro- 
tection against  thieves,  and  valuable  in  the  chase.  He  remarks 
(Georg.  iv,  116-148),  that  he  would  like  to  write  at  greater 
length  of  gardens;  he  infers  (Georg.  i,  456-457),  that  in  the 
face  of  certain  signs  it  will  be  useless  to  advise  him  to  cross  the 
deep;  Hesiod  before  him,  in  The  Works  and  Days,  had  given 
advice  concerning  sea-faring.  Vergil's  suggestions  seem  to  have 
offered  the  fatal  fascination  of  themes  "  as  yet  unsung," — 
hence  the  long  list  of  forgotten  or  neglected  poems  that  follow 
more  or  less  closely  the  didactic  t3q:>e  perfected  in  the  Georgics. 

The  first  important  variation  of  the  type  is  found  in  Gratius' 
adaptation  of  certain  georgic  features  to  the  subject  of  the 
chase,  the  huntsman  instead  of  the  farmer  being  advised  con- 

^  Cp.  Kerlin,  op.  cit.,  p.  66. 

°°  For  the  venatory  variation  cp.  Petri  Lotichii  Secimdi  Solitariensis, 
Poemata  quae  exstant  omnia,  Drcsdae,  MDCCLXXIII.  Eel.  i  and  ii.  For 
examples  of  the  other  variations,  cp.  The  Piscatory  Eclogues  of  Jacopo 
Sannazaro,  Ed.  W.  P.  Mustard,  Baltimore,  The  Johns  Hopkins  Press,  1914. 
Introd.  pp.  21,  3.3,  42,  43,  48. 

*"  See  Kerlin,  op.  cit.,  pp.  59  ff. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  41 

cerning  the  implements  and  methods  of  his  art.  Corresponding 
to  the  venatory  eclogue  there  occurs  the  "  cynegetic,"  which  may 
be  styled  a  venatory  georgic.  Annibale  Cruceio's  Alcon,^^ 
usually  attributed  to  Fracastoro,  is  an  imitation  of  Calpurnius' 
Mycon  that  illustrates  the  crossing  of  the  types  of  the  venatory 
georgic  and  the  venatory  eclogue.  Alcon,  an  old  huntsman,  in- 
structs a  younger  companion  concerning  the  care  of  hunting 
dogs.  The  work  is  of  especial  interest  in  that  it  shows  how 
closely  the  pastoral  may  be  related  to  the  georgic  in  a  variation 
of  both  types. 

From  the  pursuit  of  creatures  on  the  land  to  the  pursuit  of 
creatures  on  the  deep,  there  is  but  a  step.  Vergil,  (Georg.  i, 
139-142),  declares  that  at  the  end  of  the  Golden  Age  men  had 
begun  to  hunt  and  fish : 

turn  laqueis  captare  feras  et  fallere  visco 
inventum,  et  magnos  canibus  circumdare  saltus ; 
atque  alius  latum  funda  iam  verberat  amnem 
alta  pctens,  pelagoque  alius  trahit  umida  lina. 

Oppian  of  Cilicia  was  probably  familiar  with  the  lines.  At  any 
rate,  he  wrote  the  Halieutica,  a  poem  on  deep-sea  fishing  that 
shows  familiarity  with  Vergilian  conventions.  Later  poets 
treat  similar  themes,  showing  more  or  less  indebtedness  to  Ver- 
gil, rather  than  to  Oppian.  Corresponding  to  the  piscatory 
variation  of  the  pastoral  there  occurs  the  piscatory  variation  of 
the  georgic.  Hazlitt  ^^  calls  The  Compleat  Angler  "  the  best 
pastoral  in  our  language,"  but  The  Compleat  Angler  may  be 
said  to  be  georgic  as  well  as  pastoral.  John  Whitney's  Dialogue 
between  Piscator  and  Corydon  is  an  eclogue  of  mixed  character, 
in  which  a  fisherman  and  a  shepherd  discuss  their  respective 
pleasures  and  profits,  are  entertained  by  pastoral  songs  celebrat- 
ing country  joys  and  virtues,  and  encourage  each  other  with 
georgic  reflections  and  moralizations. 

**N.  E.  Lemaire,  Poetae  Latini  Minores,  Vol.  i,  p.  171.  For  a  comment 
on  the  authorship  of  the  poem  see  E.  Carrara,  "  La  Poesia  Pastorale," 
Storia  del  generi  Letterari  Italiani,  Milan,  p.  408. 

°*  Op.  cit.     See  above,  p.   19. 


42  The  Georgic 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  Bernardino  Baldi,  inspired  by  the 
characteristic  georgic  desire  to  tread  untrodden  ways,  ^vrote  La 
Nautica,  in  which  he  uses  the  georgic  conventions  and  the  Ver- 
gilian  plan  in  a  versified  treatise  on  sea-faring/^  and  thus  pro- 
duced a  nautical  georgic  corresponding  to  the  nautical  or  naval 
eclogue.  Thomas  Kirchmayer,  like  the  medieval  writers  of 
eclogues,  adapted  georgic  themes  to  Christian  teachings.  In  his 
Agricultm'a  Sacra,  man,  the  spiritual  husbandman,  is  instructed 
in  the  care  of  the  estate  of  his  soul.^*  Fracastoro,  who  has  fre- 
quently been  compared  to  Vergil,  used  Vergil's  framework  in  a 
poem  entitled  Syphilis,  sive  de  Morho  Gallico.  Tansillo,  inter- 
ested also  in  physical  welfare,  undertook  to  sermonize  in  verse 
on  the  method  of  rearing  high-born  infants. ^^ 

In  the  seventeenth  century,  Rapin,  in  his  Horfi.  (Bk.  i,  11) 
suggests  that  some  one  write  a  medicinal  georgic.  Conington  ^® 
observes  that  before  the  time  of  Nemesianus,  Serenus  Sammon- 
icus  had  written  1115  hexameters  entitled  De  Medicina  Prae- 
cepta,  but  adds  that  this  work  "  is  not  properly  a  didactic  poem, 
but  merely  a  medical  treatise  in  metre."  In  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, Paola  del  Rosso  wrote  a  didactic  entitled  La  Fisica;  but 
Ginguene  describes  it  as  an  abridgement  of  Aristotle's  book  on 
physics,  severely  written,  without  digressions  or  ornaments. 
ISTo  one  seems  to  have  fully  carried  out  Rapin's  suggestion. 
Collier®^  describes  briefly  a  work  written  entirely  in  verse  by 
Edmund  Gayton,  The  Art  of  Longevity  or  a  Diaeteticall  Insti- 
tution. The  work  is  in  thirty-three  chapters,  treating  of  the 
wholesomeness  or  unwholesomeness  of  every  kind  of  food ;  as  it 
was  "printed  by  the  Author,"  in  1659,  four  years  after  the 
appearance  of  Rapin's  Horti,  it  may  be  that  Gayton  was  en- 

*'B.  Baldi,  La  Nautica  con  Introduzione  e  note  di  Gaetano  Bonifacio, 
Citta  di  Castello,  1915. 

**Cp.  C.  H.  Herford,  Studies  in  the  Literary  Relations  of  England  and 
Germany  in  the  Sixteenth  Century,  Cambridge,  1886,  pp.  121  ff. 

•"^L.  Tansillo,  "  La  Balia,"  L'Egloga  e  i  Poemetti,  con  introduzione  e  note 
di  Francesco  Flamini,  Napoli,  1893. 

">  Op.  cit.,  p.  400. 

"  Op.  cit..  Vol.  I,  pp.  .309-310. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastornl  43 

couraged  in  his  task  bv  the  suggestion  of  the  French  writer. 
In  the  eighteenth  century,  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  physician 
and  of  a  poet,  John  Armstrong  wrote  a  treatise  in  blank  verse 
on  The  Art  of  Preserving  Health,  a  variation  of  the  georgic  that 
might  have  satisfied  Rapin,  had  the  English  poet  discoursed 
more  on  the  use  of  medicines. 

Akenside,  whose  interest  centered  primarily  in  the  workings 
of  the  mind,  used  the  model  furnished  by  Horace  in  the  Epis- 
tles and  by  Vergil  in  the  Georgies,  to  write  a  didactic  entitled 
The  Pleasures  of  the  Imagination.  Tn  his  preface,  Akenside 
states  that  he  has  followed  Horace  and  Vergil  as  models ;  in  his 
poem,  he  illustrates  the  use  of  many  of  the  favorite  georgic  con- 
ventions. In  the  third  book  of  the  first  edition  of  his  poems,  he 
imitates  allegorically  Vergil's  instructions  on  soils.  Writing  of 
the  wonder  of  God's  gifts  to  man,  Akenside  discourses  on  Taste, 
telling  how  the  early  seeds  of  love  and  admiration  are  sown  by 
the  Creator  in  the  minds  of  man,  and  how  constant  culture  is 
necessary  to  rear  these  seeds  to  bloom ;  and  as  Vergil  sang  of 
differences  in  the  character  of  soils,  so  Akenside  sings  of  differ- 
ences in  the  character  of  the  human  mind. 

Gay's  Trivia,  or  the  Art  of  Walking  the  Streets  of  London, 
published  1716,  and  Soame  Jenyns'  Art  of  Dancing,  published 
1727,  are  interesting  examples  of  the  burlesque  variation  of  the 
georgic.  Both  poems  are  mock  heroics  in  which  georgic  conven- 
tions are  adapted  to  situations  in  city  life.  The  eighteenth  cen- 
tury produced  the  town  georgic  as  it  produced  the  toA\Ti  eclogue. 
Writers  of  the  latter  are  said  to  have  had  a  model  in  Theocritus, 
Idyll  XV. ^^  The  very  name  "  town  georgic  '"  is  in  itself  striking 
proof  of  the  extent  to  which  the  Vergilian  type  of  didactic 
poetry  may  wander  from  the  scene  of  field-work. 

Falconer's  Shipwreck,  published  1762,  is  another  example  of 
the  varying  use  of  the  georgic  conventions,  the  poem  being  an 
epic  with  georgic  features,  such  as  technical  instructions  of  a 
nautical  character,  moralizations,  geographical  excursions,  ref- 

*'  Cp.  Kerlin,  op.  cit.,  p.  59. 


44  The  Georgic 

erences  to  famous  men,  the  contrast  of  rural  innocence  with 
city  arts. 

But  by  far  the  most  important  eighteenth  century  develop- 
ment of  the  type  is  that  originated  by  James  Thomson  in  the 
Seasons.  Thomson  omits  the  most  difficult  feature  of  the  Geor- 
gics,  the  versifying  of  practical  precepts,  but  he  makes  use  of 
the  georgic  motives  and  of  almost  all  the  georgic  conventions. 
Vergil  proposes  to  teach  the  husbandman  agricultural  arts.  He 
describes  the  occupations  of  the  farmer  thru  the  year,  refer- 
ring incidentally  to  the  seasons  as  they  are  related  to  the  farm- 
er's occupations.  Thomson  proposes  to  give  an  account  of  the 
course  of  the  seasons,  referring  incidentally  to  the  farmer's  occu- 
pations as  they  relate  to  the  seasons.  Vergil  introduces  descrip- 
tions of  nature,  chiefly  as  background  for  the  husbandman  at 
work.  Thomson  introduces  the  farmer  and  his  work  chiefly  to 
give  life  to  his  descriptions  of  nature.  Instead  of  using  the 
formal  Vergilian  statement  of  the  subject,  Thomson  begins  each 
of  his  poems  with  an  apostrophe  to  the  Season  he  is  about  to  de- 
scribe; his  mythological  references  are  rare,  and  he  can  hardly 
be  said  to  introduce  pointed  proverbial  sayings.  But  if  he  re- 
frains from  the  use  of  proverbial  sayings,  he  makes  up  by  the 
length  of  his  moralizations  and  of  his  philosophical  reflections. 
He  never  attempts  to  convey  practical  advice  directly,  altho  in 
Spring  (137  ff.),  after  his  description  of  the  manner  of  destroy- 
ing orchard  pests,  he  uses  Vergil's  personal  tone  in  exhorting 
the  swains  to  patience.  All  the  other  features  familiar  in  the 
georgics  he  uses  as  freely  as  he  uses  Vergil's  phrasing.  In 
Spring,  (142  ff. )  and  in  Autumn  (43  ff.)  he  introduces  the  cen- 
tral motive  of  the  Georgics,  the  glorification  of  labor,  but  he 
does  not  use  the  motive  as  a  central  thought.  Thruout  the 
Seasons  he  sings  the  praise  of  simple  country  life;  in  Autumn, 
almost  in  Vergil's  own  words,  he  paints  the  existence  of  the  hus- 
bandman, happy  beyond  the  dreams  of  the  great. 

Vergil  suggests  ;  Thomson  delights  to  expand.  Vergil  touches 
upon  various  philosophical  beliefs;  Thomson  expounds  eigh- 
teenth century  philosophical  ideas  line  upon  line.     In  Vergil, 


The  lielation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  45 

every  word  seems  necessary  to  the  perfection  of  the  whole; 
Samuel  Johnson  is  said  to  have  pleased  an  unsuspecting  audi- 
ence by  reading  a  passage  from  Thomson  in  which  he  omitted 
every  other  line.  iSTevertheless,  partly  because  of  what  he  owes 
to  Vergil,  partly  because  much  that  he  has  to  say  is  refreshing 
to  jaded  eighteenth  century  readers,  chiefly  because  in  spite  of 
his  faults  he  is  a  true  poet,  Thomson  oifered  a  variation  of  the 
georgic  that  found  a  welcome  not  only  among  the  learned,  but 
also  among  readers  who  had  never  construed  a  Latin  line.  The 
influence  of  Thomson  is  seen  in  English  poems  planned  to  imi- 
tate closely  the  Vergilian  model ;  but  alongside  of  these  didactics 
there  are  found  in  English,  French,  and  Italian,  imitations  of 
the  Vergilian  model  as  Thomson  adapted  it  to  his  use.^'** 

Pascoli,  in  the  Primi  Poemetti,  like  Thomson  in  the  Seasons, 
makes  no  pretence  of  giving  his  reader  direct  practical  advice. 
But  unlike  Thomson,  Pascoli  introduces  no  learned  allusions,  no 
panegyrics,  no  geographical  excursions,  no  narrative  episodes, 
no  sorrowful  contrast  between  the  past  and  the  present.  It  is 
the  Vergilian  spirit,  rather  than  the  Vergilian  motives,  that  one 
finds  in  Pascoli.  Reading  the  Poemetti,  one  thinks  inevitably 
of  Millet ;  only,  too  often.  Millet  fills  one  with  a  sense  of  sadness. 
The  atmosphere  of  the  Poemetti,  unlike  that  in  so  much  of  Pas- 
coli, is  of  deep  unreasoning  content.  The  Poemetti  are  a  series 
of  little  pictures,  idylls  in  which  are  depicted  the  homely  reali- 
ties of  the  Italian  contadini's  daily  life.  To  his  listening  help- 
mate the  husbandman  repeats  proverbial  wisdom, 

Sai    clie,    per    il    grano, 
presto  &  talora,  tardi  6  sempre  male. 
.  .  .  chi   con    I'acqua    semina,    raccoglie 
poi  col  paniere;   e  cuoce  fare  in  vano 
pifl   che  non   fare. 


'"Among  the  most  interesting  of  the  English  poems  influenced  hy  the 
Thomsonian  variation  of  the  georgic  type  are  Goldsmith's  Deserted  Village, 
Cowper's  Task,  and  William  Bloomfield's  The  Farmer's  Boy.  Delille's 
Homme  des  Champs  shows  the  influence  of  Goldsmith  even  more  markedly 
than  that  of  Thomson.  N.  G.  L^nard's  Le  Village  Detruit,  is  a  weak  copy 
of  the  Deserted  Village.     Mazzoni,  op.  cit.,  p.  79,  mentions  a  nineteenth 


46  The  Georgic 

"  Some  miTte  star  "  looks  down  upon  liim  as  he  plows ;  and  the 
young  daughters  of  the  honse  rising  at  dawn,  perform  accus- 
tomed tasks.  Brown-haired  Viola  milks  the  cow ;  golden-haired 
Rosa,  like  Vergil's  housewife,  sings  to  the  sound  of  the  weaving 
comb  and  at  the  command  of  the  "  cara  pia  madre  "  helps  to 
prepare  the  simple  meal.  And  when  the  Angelus  rings,  mother 
and  daughters  carry  bread  and  wine  to  the  fields  w^here  the 
sowers  stand,  like  Millet's  peasants,  repeating  the  familiar 
prayer. 

With  the  loving  minuteness  of  Vergil,  Pascoli  describes  the 
contadini's  daily  tasks.  Like  Vergil  he  charms  the  homeliest 
details  into  verse,  and  more  perhaps  than  any  other  poet  since 
Vergil,  he  writes  with  intimate  understanding  of  the  husband- 
man's life.  With  exquisite  simplicity,  more  perhaps  even 
than  Vergil,  he  reveals  the  poetry  of  the  peasants'  religion,  the 
nobility  of  simple  tasks  wrought  with  contentment,  hallowed 
by  the  sacred  beauty  of  family  love. 

In  Francis  Jammes'  Georgiques  clireUennss,  there  is  still 
another  development  of  the  georgic  type  in  which  practical  pre- 
cepts are  omitted.  However,  a  number  of  the  conventional  Ver- 
gilian  features  are  illustrated,  such  for  example,  as  the  refer- 
ences to  foreign  lands,  their  ]iroducts  and  customs ;  descriptions 
of  rural  festivities  and  of  rural  sports ;  the  marking  of  the  sea- 
sons by  the  constellations ;  references  to  famous  men ;  a  lament 
over  the  desertion  of  the  soil;  and- the  use  of  narrative  episodes. 
Les  Georgiques  cliretiennes  treat  of  agricultural  labors,  such  as 
harvesting,  and  sowing,  the  culture  of  the  vine;  but  the  poet 
does  not  offer  direct  instructions  as  to  the  methods  of  farming. 
Like  Pascoli's  Poemetti,  these  georgics  are  idylls  of  the  farmer's 
life ;  like  the  Poemetti,  they  present  a  series  of  scenes  in  the  life 
of  one  family."^"  eTammes  makes  an  occasional  mythological 
reference,  but  like  Pascoli,  he  introduces  no  pagan  religion.  Tn 
the  Poemetti,  one  hears  the  sound  of  the  church  boll,  the  sing- 

ccntuiy  Hlayioni  by  Giuseppe  Barbicri,  and  comiiu'iits  upon  tlic  European 
vogue  of  the  Thomsonian  nature  poetry. 

'*  In  this  respect,  both  series  of  poems  are  like  Bloomfield'a  Farmer's  Boy. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  47 

ing  of  religious  songs,  the  prayer  of  the  Angehis ;  in  the  pages  of 
Jammes,  "  harvesting  angels  "  guard  the  land  no  longer  pro- 
tected by  the  deities  of  ancient  Rome.  The  French  poet  invokes 
his  angel  (chant  iii,  48  ff.),  not  the  Muse;  he  dedicates  his 
third  song  to  the  "  Mere  de  Dieu  " ;  and  he  describes  church 
feasts  such  as  Christmas,  Rogation  Days,  and  All  Souls'.  lie 
sighs  over  the  desertion  of  the  soil,  as  Yergil  and  so  many  other 
poets  have  sighed,  but  the  present-day  evils  that  he  most  deeply 
laments  are  those  brought  about  by  the  irreligion  of  France. 

In  spite  of  certain  general  resemblances  to  Pascoli's  Poemetti, 
Les  Georgiques  chreiiennes  are  very  different  from  the  Italian 
poems.  In  plan  they  are  much  nearer  to  the  Vergilian  type ;  in 
spirit  far  less  near  to  Vergil.  As  a  development  of  the  georgic 
t_\'pe  they  are  of  especial  interest ;  as  poems,  they  offer  much 
that  is  worth  while,  but  they  fail  to  grip  the  heart  with  the  deep 
and  abiding  beauty  of  the  Poemetti  of  Pascoli. 

4.    Variations  of  the  Georgic  classified. 

A  didactic  poem  of  the  Vergilian  type  may  illustrate  only 
the  use  of  the  plan  and  general  treatment  of  the  Georgics,  or  it 
may  illustrate  only  the  spirit  and  the  motives  of  the  Georgics, 
and  in  plan  be  quite  different  from  Vergil's  didactics.  A  poem 
may  be  a  georgic,  Vergilian  only  with  respect  to  subject  matter; 
it  may  be  Vergilian  in  form  and  in  subject  have  nothing  in  com- 
mon with  the  true  georgic.  The  Vergilian  conventions  may  be 
used  to  convey  instructions  about  any  practical  art,  they  may  be 
used  to  impart  precepts  about  a  science  or  a  fine  art ;  they  may 
be  adapted  to  Christian  themes  and  allegorical  teachings ;  they 
may  be  used  for  satire  and  burlesque,  or  in  the  telling  of  a  tale. 
Georgic  themes  may  be  the  subjects  discoursed  upon  by  the 
speakers  in  an  eclogue ;  thus  the  types  cross.  And  finally,  a 
poem  that  is  georgic  in  motive  or  subject  matter  comes  under 
the  broad  definition  of  the  term  pastoral. 

The  chief  variations  in  the  development  of  the  georgic  type 
fall  into  two  general  classes,  which  may  Ix*  sulvdivided  as 
follows : 


48  The  Georgic 

I.    Poems  marked  primarily  by  the  use  of  rules  of  practice. 

a.  The  georgic  in  the  narrowest  sense  of  the  word,  a  compo- 
sition in  which  the  poet  treats  of  rules  of  practice  concerning 
the  science  of  general  husbandry,  or  of  any  special  branch  of 
husbandry  such  as  gardening,  bee-keeping  or  the  culture  of 
silkworms. 

1.  The  non-Yergilian  georgic,  written  like  Hesiod's  Works 
and  Days,  with  no  regard  for  definite  plan  or  artistic  structure ; 
for  example,  Thomas  Tusser's  Five  Hundred  Pointes  of  Good 
Hushandrie,  John  Gardener's  Feate  of  Gardening. 

2.  The  Vergilian  georgic,  in  which  the  poet  follows  a  defi- 
nite plan  and  makes  more  or  less  use  of  conventions  peculiar  to 
the  Vergilian  type;  for  example,  Alammani's  CoUivazione  (of 
general  husbandry),  Rapin's  Hortomm,  lihri  IV,  Christopher 
Smart's  Hop  Garden,  Ruccelai's  Api,  Vida's  Bombyces. 

b.  The  cynegetic,  the  halieutic,  or  the  ixeutic  "^^  (nearest  in 
type  to  the  true  georgic),  a  composition  in  which  the  poet  treats 
of  rules  of  practice  not  concerning  field-work  but  field-sports, 
such  as  hunting  with  hounds  (the  cynegetic),  deep  sea-fishing 
or  angling  (the  halieutic),  and  of  hawking  or  the  snaring  of 
birds  (the  ixeutic).  These  efforts  may  be  non- Vergilian  in 
form  (Dame  Juliana  Berner's  Treatise  on  Venerie),  or  they 
may  be  written  in  imitation  of  the  Georgics  (William  Somer- 
ville's  Chase).  The  Oppian  poems  are  among  the  most  inter- 
esting examples  of  the  cynegetic  and  the  halieutic ;  Claude 
Gauchet's  "  Le  Moyen  de  Prendre  les  Alouettes  au  miroer  "  '^- 
illustrates  a  sixteenth-century  variation  of  the  ixeutic. "^^ 

c.  A  composition  in  which  the  poet  treats  of  rules  of  prac- 
tice concerning  any  outdoor  occupation,  as  in  the  nautical 
georgic,  a  poem  on  the  art  of  sea-faring;  for  example,  Ber- 
nardino Baldi's  Nautica,  Joseph  Esmenard's  Navigation. 

"  The  poems  of  this  class  will  be  treated  in  detail  in  a  subsequent 
chapter. 

"  See  Le  Plaisir  des  Champs,  Paris.     Edition  of  1604. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  49 

d.  A  composition  in  which  the  poet  gives  direct  advice  con- 
cerning any  practical  art.  The  effort  may  be  a  non-Vergilian 
bit  of  rhyme,  perhaps  on  some  prosaic  matter  of  the  housewife's 
province,  such  as  John  Gay's  Receipt  for  Stewin<j  Veal.  With 
notes  by  tJie  author;  '^^  or  it  may  be  a  Vergilian  didactic  fol- 
lowing the  georgic  conventions,  and  emphasizing  the  necessity 
of  honest  toil  and  the  advantages  of  country  life ;  for  example, 
John  Armstrong's  Art  of  Preserving  Health. 

e.  A  composition  in  which  the  poet  follows  the  georgic  con- 
ventions, purporting  to  give  advice  concerning  any  art  or  occu- 
pation; for  example,  Soame  Jenyns'  Art  of  Dancing,  Gay's 
mock-heroic  Trivia,  or  the  Art  of  Walking  the  Streets  of 
London. 

f.  An  eclogue  in  which  the  characters  are  concerned  with 
rules  of  practice ;  as  in  Calpumius'  Mycon,  John  Scott's  Amoe- 
hean  Eclogue,  "  Rural  Business;  or  the  Agriculturists."  '^* 

II.    Poems  illustrating  georgic  themes  or  georgic  features,  hub 
not  marked  primarily  hy  the  use  of  rules  of  practice. 

a.  A  composition  that  treats  of  rural  life,  following  in  part 
georgic  ideas  and  georgic  conventions,  altho  not  dealing  pri- 
marily with  an  occupation ;  as,  for  example,  Thomson's  Seasons. 

b.  A  composition  in  which  practical  precepts  are  not  used, 
altho  the  poet  treats  in  the  Vergilian  spirit  of  farm  occupations 
and  uses  to  some  extent  georgic  features;  as  in  Bloomfield's 
Farmer  s  Boy,  Pascoli's  Primi  Poemetti,  and  Jammes'  Geor- 
giques  chretiennes. 

c.  A  composition  in  which,  for  allegorical  or  philosophical 
purposes,  the  Vergilian  plan  is  imitated,  Avholly  or  in  part, 
altho  the  poet  does  not  treat  of  a  practical  occupation  and  is 
not  concerned  primarily  with  country  life ;  as  in  Thomas  Kirch- 

"  See  Chalmer's  English  Poets,  x,  495. 
'*  See  Chalmer's  English  Poles,  xvii,  469. 


50  The  Georgic 

mejer's  AgricuUura  Sacra,  and  Akenside's  Pleasures  of  the 
Imagination. 

d.  An  eclogue  in  which  the  characters  discourse  on  georgic 
themes;  for  example,  John  Whitney's  Dialogue  between  Pis- 
cator  and  Corydon,  Claude  Gauchet's  "  Michaut-Phlippot."  "^^ 

e.  A  narrative  poem  with  digressions  of  georgic  character; 
as  in  Falconer's  Shipwreck. 


"  See  Le  Plaiair  de$  Champa,  Paris,  1869,  p.  86. 


Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture  51 

CHAPTER  IV 


Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture  ^ 
1.     Early  Italian  Poems  on  Agriculture 

Didactic  poems  on  general  agriculture  may  be  considered  in 
several  groups:  the  earliest  Italian  works  on  tlie  subject,  early 
English  non-Vergilian  georgics,  sixteenth-century  Italian  poems, 
and  works  in  French  and  English  written  in  the  eighteenth  and 
nineteenth  centuries. 

Except,  perhaps,  in  the  first  years  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  didactic  type  of  Vergilian  poetry  seems  to  have  appealed 
more  strongly  to  the  Italians  than  to  any  other  people.  With 
them  begins  fitly  enough  the  revival  of  the  georgic  on  general 
agriculture.  In  1483  Poliziano's  Rusticus  was  written  as  an 
introduction  to  the  study  of  Vergil's  Georgics.  Dunlop  -  rightly 
characterizes  the  Rusticus  as  an  "  abridgment  of  the  subject 
matter  of  the  Georgics."  Yet  the  poem  is  far  more  than  this, 
for  altho  Poliziano  does  not  follow  Vergil's  plan,  and  does  not 
treat  of  rules  of  practice  in  the  fashion  of  either  Vergil  or  of 
Hesiod,  the  Rusticus  is  one  of  the  finest  of  the  Vergilian  imita- 
tions ;  a  poem  that  convinces  the  reader  that  the  theme  of  farm 
life  can  be  an  inspiration  to  poets  of  all  ages,  since  in  the  late 
fifteenth  century  it  can  be  treated  in  verses  of  almost  as  great 
loveliness  as  those  of  the  Mantuan  himself. 

'  The  compositions  which  are  purely  georgic,  either  in  subject  matter 
alone,  or  both  in  subject  matter  and  in  plan,  fall  naturally  into  several 
different  groups  which  may  be  classed  as  follows:  (a)  didactics  on  general 
farming,  (b)  didactics  on  gardens,  (c)  didactics  on  silkworms,  (d)  didac- 
tics on  sheepraising,  (e)  didactics  on  miscellaneous  agricultural  subjects. 
I  shall  attempt  to  treat  in  detail  only  the  poems  of  the  first  two  groups. 

For  the  chief  poems  on  silkworms  see  above,  p.  31.  J.  Dyer's  The  Fleece 
(on  sheep-raising),  one  of  the  finest  of  English  georgics,  has  been  cele- 
brated in  Wordsworth's  sonnet  To  The  Poet  John  Dyer.  J,  Grainger's 
The  Sugar  Cane,  C.  Smart's  The  Hop  Garden,  J.-B.  Spolverini's  Colt,  del 
Rise,  G.  Roberti's  Le  Fragole  are  interesting  examples  of  subjects,  georgic 
in  the  narrowest  sense  of  the  word. 

'  See  above,  p.  30. , 


52  The  Georgic 

Poliziano's  Latin  poem  was  due  directly  to  the  inspiration 
of  Vergil.  But  long  before  Poliziano,  another  Italian  writer, 
the  source  of  whose  inspiration  I  do  not  know,  attempted  to 
make  verses  on  agriculture.  This  was  the  Bolognese  Paganino 
Bonafede  ^  who  in  the  Tesoro  dei  Rustici  began  "  that  kind  of 
Georgic  poetry  which  was  fully  developed  later  by  Alamanni 
in  his  Coltivazione,  by  Giralomo  Barrufaldi  in  the  Canapajo 
etc."  ^  This  was  as  early  as  1360,  according  to  Tiraboschi  ^ 
who  adds  that  II  Quadrio  speaks  of  a  manuscript  copy  that  the 
canon  Amadei  had  of  the  Tesoro.  Tiraboschi  disposes  of  the 
subject  by  remarking  of  Bonafede  that  "  il  saggio  che  egli  ne 
da  e  si  poco  felice  che  a  niun-o,  io  credo,  cadera  mai  in  pensiero 
di  pubblicarlo."  In  how  far  the  ill-fated  effort  is  Vergilian  I 
am  at  present  unable  to  determine.  Bonafede's  work,  appar- 
ently, had  no  influence  on  other  Italian  writers.  Poliziano, 
however,  may  be  regarded  as  a  powerful  force  in  awakening 
directly  or  indirectly  the  enthusiasm  for  Vergil's  Georgics  that 
resulted  in  the  remarkable  series  of  didactic  poems  written  in 
Italy  thruout  the  sixteenth  century. 

2.     Early  English  nonrY ergilian  Georgics 

The  first  English  poem  on  the  subject  of  farming  is  not 
original.  It  is  the  Middle  English  version  of  Palladius  on 
Husbandrie,^  most  of  which  is  said  to  be  a  fairly  close  transla- 

'  See  above,  p.  29. 

*See  Hermann  Oelsner,  "On  Ital.  Lit.,"  E.  B.,  vol.  xrv. 

"  Op.  cit.    See  above,  p.  29. 

•  This  translation  was  first  printed  for  the  E.E.T.S.  No.  52,  ed.  from  the 
Unique  MS.  of  about  1420  A.  D.  In  Colchester  Castle.  By  the  Rev.  Barton 
Lodge,  M.  A.,  with  a  ryime  index  ed.  by  Sidney  J.  Herrtage,  B.  A.  London, 
1873  land  1879.  I  have  been  unalble  to  see  the  la)ter  edition  by  Mark  Liddell, 
The  Middle  English  Translation  of  Palladius  de  re  rustica,  ed.  with  critical 
and  explanatory  notes.  Pt.  I — Text.  Berlin,  E.  Ebering,  1896.  See  the 
review  in  Anglia  Beihl.,  vii,  97.  Gustav  Korting,  Grundr.  der  Gesch.  der 
Eng.  Lit.,  p.  153,  m.  1,  'cites  the  title  of  a  promising  Gottingen  dissertaition, 
Streuver,  Die  mitteleng-  Vbersetzung  des  P.,  ihr  Verh.altnis  zur  Quelle  und 
ihre  Sprache. 


Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture  53 

tion  of  the  Latin  author.^  The  version  of  the  Early  English 
Text  Society,  edited  from  the  Colchester  manuscript,  is  not 
complete.  Mark  Liddell  edited  the  translation  from  the  manu- 
script of  Earl  Fitz^villiam,  which  was  unknown  to  Lodge  and 
Herrtage,  and  which  is  believed  to  have  been  copied  from  the 
original.  Several  gaps  in  the  Colchester  manuscript  are  here 
filled  in,  and  to  the  first  book  there  is  a  prologue  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  verses,  in  which  the  translation  is  said  to  have 
been  made  at  the  command  and  under  the  supervision  of  Duke 
Humphrey  of  Gloucester.  How  much  more  of  the  history  of 
the  Middle  English  translator  may  be  had  from  the  Fitzwilliam 
manuscript  I  do  not  know.  His  name  seems  not  to  have  been 
mentioned  anywhere;  Herrtage  states  that  it  is  conjectured  that 
he  was  a  member  of  one  of  the  religious  houses  of  Colchester, 
or  in  the  vicinity,  a  conjecture  founded  on  the  facts  that  gar- 
dening was  a  favorite  pursuit  of  these  houses,  and  that  Palladius 
was  held  in  repute  among  them.  In  the  Colchester  manuscript 
the  personal  interpolations  of  the  translator  throw  no  light  on 
his  identity,  but  they  show  that  he  was  a  devoutly  religious  man 
who  dedicated  his  work  to  the  Christian  God.  The  correctness 
of  his  translation,  says  Herrtage,  is  a  proof  of  his  learning,  and 
the  general  character  of  his  verse  bespeaks  "  literary  taste  as 
well  as  leisure."  The  verse  is  written  in  rime  royal,  indicating 
the  writer's  knowledge  and  admiration  of  Chaucer. 

The  poem  in  the  Colchester  ms.  is  in  twelve  books.    The  first, 
an  introduction  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  stanzas,  gives 

^  Lodge  remarks  that  little  is  known  of  Palladius.  He  lived  in  the  fourth 
century  A.  D.,  in  the  time  of  Theodosius.  His  works  obtained  some  celebrity 
and  were  translated  into  the  vernacular  of  almost  every  country  of  Europe. 
"  Palladius'  work  .  .  .  was  the  foundation  of  nearly  all  English  writings 
on  husbandry  for  several  centuries,  and  most  of  them,  that  of  Grosseteste 
included,  were  merely  transla/tions  or  adaptations  of  that  work  "  (Tlie  Hon. 
Mrs.  Evelyn  Cecil,  A  Hist,  of  Eng.  Oardening.  London,  1910,  p.  59).  The 
first  acknowledged  English  translation  of  Palladius  seems  to  be  the  poem 
of  the  unknown  author  of  the  Colchester  ms.  The  name  and  work  of 
Nicholas  Bollard,  a  monk  of  Westminster,  another  translator  of  the  same 
period,  have  been  preserved,  but  this  version  includes  only  the  parts  relat- 
ing to  grafting,  planting,  and  sowing.    See  Mrs.  Cecil,  op.  cit.,  p.  62, 


54  The  Georgic 

a  variety  of  general  precepts  on  tillage,  pasturage,  the  best 
methods  of  building,  the  care  of  domestic  fowls,  the  necessity 
of  good  air  and  water,  even  the  best  articles  of  dress  for  rustics. 
The  other  eleven  books  give  advice  for  each  month  of  the  year, 
except  December,  treating  of  almost  every  known  farm  occupa- 
tion, from  plowing  to  preserving;  and  detailing,  often  with 
pleasant  laughter,  curious  superstitions  relative  to  agriculture. 
Palladius  evidently  had  no  care  for  an  artistic  plan,  and  he 
scorns  the  aid  of  rhetoric.    The  opening  stanza  reads : 

Consideraunce  is  taken  atte  prudence 
What  mon  me  moost  enforme:  and  husbondrie 
No  rethorick  doo  teche  or  eloquence; 
As  sum  have  doon  hemself  to  magnifie. 
What  com  thereof?    That  wyse  men  folie 
Her  wordes  helde.    Yit  other  thus  to  blame 
We  styntte,  in  cas  men  doo  by  us  the  same. 

Gesner,  comments  Mr.  Lodge, ^  on  line  4,  considers  this  to  be 
a  taunt  aimed  at  Columella,  altho  Columella  gives  no  more  occa- 
sion for  it  than  Palladius  himself ;  and  the  latter  by  his  remark 
in  the  last  lines,  seems  to  be  conscious  that  he  is  open  to  this 
retort.  It  appears  more  reasonable  to  infer  that  Palladius  had 
reference  to  Vergil ;  and  the  neglect  of  Vergil's  sound  precepts, 
already  referred  to,  seems  to  some  extent  to  justify  the  question, 

What  com  thereof?    That  ^wyse  men  folie 
Her  wordes  held. 

The  second  stanza,  a  statement  of  the  general  subjects  to  be 
treated,  recalls  the  stock  opening  of  the  Vergilian  didactic,  but 
except  an  occasional  moralization,  there  is  nothing  further  to 
suggest  the  conventions  of  the  georgic.  The  Middle  English 
translator's  style  has  the  simplicity  of  his  age,  and  his  precepts 
are  far  pleasanter  to  read  than  many  eighteenth-century  epi- 
sodes. It  would  seem  that  his  Muse  did  not  resent  the  fact  that 
she  was  scorned.  Read  continuously,  the  book  is  a  labor ;  read 
by  bits,  it  is,  occasionally,  delightful.  Stanzas  like  the  follow- 
ing, the  epilogue  to  Bk.  vi  and  prologue  to  Bk.  vii,  make  the 

*0p.  cit.,  p.  221. 


Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture  65 

reader  regret  that  the  translator  reveals  so  little  of  his  own 
personality : 

So  May  is  ronne  away  in  litel  space, 

The  tonge  is  shorte,  and  longe  is  his  sentence, 

Forth  ride  I  see  my  Gide,  and  him  I  trace 

As  he  as  swyfte  to  be  yit  I  dispence. 

0  sone  of  God  alloone,  O  sa/pience, 

0  hope,  of  synnes  drop  or  gile  immuyn. 

Loving  I  to  The  syng  as  my  science 

Can  doo;  and  forth  I  goo  to  werk  atte  Juyn. 

The  Middle  English  Pallaclius  plays  no  important  part  in 
the  history  of  the  georgic,  for  the  world  knew  nothing  of  the 
"  unique  manuscript  "  until  its  discovery  at  Colchester  Castle, 
when  it  was  published,  not  for  its  value  as  a  georgic,  but  as  a 
piece  of  literature  illustrating  the  transitional  state  of  the  lan- 
guage shortly  after  the  time  of  Chaucer. 

Thomas  Tusser's  A  Hundredth  Pointes  of  Good  Husbandries 
afterwards  expanded  to  Five  Hundred  Pointes  of  Good  Hu^- 
handrie,^  is  the  first  original  English  georgic  on  general 
agriculture  of  which  I  have  any  knowledge.  Excepting  John 
Gardener's  verses  ^"  it  is,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  earliest  English 
georgic.  Tusser  professes  to  imitate  no  one ;  yet,  with  reason, 
his  poem  has  been  compared  tx)  the  ^Yor^cs  and  Days.  Coning- 
ton,^^  writing  of  eighteenth-century  didactics,  says:  "What- 
ever may  be  their  beauties,  the  Hesiodic  spirit  is  absent  from 
one  and  all  alike.  If  we  are  resolved  to  trace  it  to  its  lurking- 
places  in  English  poetry  w^e  must  ascend  to  times  more  nearly 
resembling  Hesiod's  own,  when  old  Tusser  could  write  not  for 
critics,  but  for  farmers,  and  the  Five  Hundred  Pointes  of  Good 
Husbandrie  were  received  as  respectable  poetry  because  they 
were  known  to  be  good  sense." 

Tusser's  title-page  is,  like  that  of  Chapman's  Hesiod,  a  fair 
summary  of  the  poem's  contents :  "  Five  Hundred  Pointes  of 
good  Husbandrie,  as  well  for  the  Champion,  or  open  countrie 

*Eng.  Dialect  Society  Publ.  No.  21,  1878,  ed.  by  W.  Payne  and  Sidney 
J.  Herrtage. 

^»  See  above,  p.  30.  "  Op.  cit.,  p.  134. 


56  The  G.eorgic 

as  also  for  the  woodland,  or  several,  mixed  in  every  Month  with 
Hhiswiferie,  over  and  besides  the  booke  of  Huswiferie  corrected, 
better  ordered,  and  newly  augmented  to  a  fourth  part  more, 
with  divers  other  lessons,  as  a  diet  for  the  former,  of  the  proper- 
ties of  winds,  planets,  hops,  herbes,  bees,  and  approved  remedies 
of  sheepe  and  cattle,  with  many  other  matters  both  profitable, 
and  not  unpleasant  for  the  Reader.  Also  a  table  of  husbandrie 
at  the  beginning  of  this  booke:  and  another  of  huswiferie  at 
the  end;  for  the  better  and  easier  finding  of  any  matter  con- 
tained in  the  same. 

"  IsTewly  set  forth  by  Thomas  Tusser,  Gentleman,  Servant 
of  the  Honorable  Lord  Paget  of  Beaudesert.  Imprinted  at 
London,  by  Henrie  Denham,  dwelling  in  Paternoster  Row,  at 
the  Signe  of  the  Starre,  1580," 

These  varied  matters,  "  profitable  and  not  unpleasant,"  are 
set  forth  mainly  in  anapestic  meter,^^  rough  but  well  adapted 
for  retention  in  the  memory.  Like  the  English  Palladium, 
Tusser  follows  no  definite  artistic  plan.  The  work  is  divided 
into  one  hundred  and  fourteen  sections,  or  poems;  each  is 
complete  in  itself,  and  some  have  no  relation  to  the  subject  of 
husbandry. 

Warton  ^^  writes  of  the  Five  Hundred  Povntes,  "  It  must  be 
acknowledged  that  this  old  English  georgic  has  much  more  of 
the  simplicity  of  Hesiod,  than  of  the  elegance  of  Virgil:  and 
a  modern  reader  would  suspect,  that  many  of  its  salutary 
maxims  originally  decorated  the  margins,  and  illustrated  the 
calendars  of  an  antient  almanac.  It  is  without  invocations, 
digressions  and  descriptions:  no  pleasing  pictures  of  rural 
imagery  are  drawn  from  meadows  covered  with  flocks  and  fields 
waving  with  corn,  nor  are  Pan  and  Ceres  once  named.  Yet  it 
is  valuable  as  a  genuine  picture  of  the  agriculture,  the  rural 
arts,  and  the  domestic  economy  and  customs,  of  our  industrious 

"  For  a  brief  but  interesting  discussion  of  Tusser's  Versification,  cp- 
E.  D.  So.  21,  XX,  XXI.  See  also  vSchipper,  Oriindr.  der  Engl.  Metrik, 
Leipzig,  1895,  pp.  108,  249. 

"  The  Hist,  of  Eng.  Poetry,  London,  1824,  vol.  iv,  p.  129. 


Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture  57 

ancestors."  Warton  is  right  about  the  absence  of  invocations 
and  descriptions ;  but  the  poem  illustrates  the  Vergilian  con- 
vention of  an  address  to  the  writer's  patron,  in  ''  the  Author's 
Epistle  to  the  Late  Lord  William  Paget  "  and  in  the  eulogistic 
lines  to  "  the  Eight  Honorable  and  my  Speciall  good  Lord  and 
Master,  the  Lord  Thomas  Paget  of  Beaudesert,  son  and  heire 
to  his  late  father  deceased."  It  is  not  true  that  Ceres  is  not 
once  named,  for  Tusser  shows  his  acquaintance  with  mythology 
in  the  lines  to  Lord  Thomas  Paget, 

But  God  hath  wrought  his  pleasure, 
and  blest  him  out  of  measure, 
with  heaven  and  earthlie  treasure, 
so  good  a  God  is  he. 

His  counsell  had  I  used, 
and  Ceres  art  refused 
I  need  not  thus  have  mused 
nor  drooped  as  I  now  do. 

And  again, 

Though  Pallas  hath  denide  me, 
hir  learned  men  to  guide  me, 
for  that  she  dailie  spide  me, 
with  countrie  how  I  stood: 

Yet  Ceres  so  did  bold  me, 
with  hir  good  lessons  told  me, 
that  rudeness  cannot  hold  me, 
from  doing  country  good. 

The  theme  of  contrast  between  city  and  country  is  treated 

without  illusion : 

For  citie  seems  a  \sTinger, 
the  penie  for  to  finger, 
from  such  as  there  do  linger, 

or  for  their  pleasure  lie: 
Though  countrie  be  more  painfull, 
and  not  so  greedie  gainfull, 
yet  it  is  not  so  vainfull, 

in  following  fansies  eie." 

The  pastime  feature  of  the  georgic  is  illustrated  very  happily, 
particularly  in  the  verses  on  Christmas  festivities.     There  are 

"Chap.  2,  St.  13,  p.  10. 


58  The  Georgia 

no  long  episodes  nor  tales  of  any  kind,  but  brief  digressions 
occur  such  as  the  description  of  man's  age  from  seven  years  to 
fourscore  and  four,  the  "  description  of  an  envious  and  naughtie 
neighbour,  and  a  dialogue  between  two  Bachelors  of  wiving  and 
thriving,  by  '  affirmation  and  negation,'  and  the  maryed  man's 
judgment  thereof."  Chap.  30  consists  of  A  Christmas  Caroll 
of  the  hirth  of  Christ  upon  the  tune  of  King  Salamon.  But  the 
most  characteristic  feature  of  the  whole  poem  is  the  use  of 
pointed  and  practical  maxims,  such  as 

Let  house  h-ave  to  fill  her, 

Let  land  have  to  till  her, 
No  dwellers,  what  profiteth  house  for  to  stand? 
What  goodness,  unoccupied,  bringeth  the  land? 
and 

No  labor,  no  bread, 

No  host  we  be  dead,^' 

and  so  forth. 

Like  Palladius,  Tusser  scorns  the  aid  of  rhetoric ;  he  writes : 

What  looke  ye,  I  praie  you  shew  what? 
Termes  painted  with  Rhetorike  fine 
Good  husbandrie  asketh  not  that. 
Nor  ist  any  meaning  of  mine." 

Tusser's  writings,  like  those  of  the  translator  of  Palladius, 
show  that  he  was  a  devout  Christian.  In  one  section,  he  names 
the  "  principal  points  of  Religion  " ;  in  another  he  sums  up  in 
twenty-seven  quatrains  his  "  stedfast  creede."  ^^  That  his 
religious,  as  well  as  his  agricultural,  precepts  are  practical  may 
be  seen  from  the  lines, 

I  do  not  doubt  there  is  a  multitude  of  saints. 

More  good  is  done  resembling  them  than  shewing  them  our  plaintes. 
Their  faith  and  workes  in  Christ  that  glorie  them  did  give, 
Which  glorie  we  shall  likewise  have,  if  we  do  likewise  live." 

Like  the  translator  of  the  Palladius,  Tusser  is  pleased  to 
translate  Latin.     He  has  some  lessons  "  out  of  S.  Augustine  " 

"Chap.  6,  p.  15.  "Chap.  5,  st.  3,  p.  14. 

"H  105,  pp.  193-194;  H  106,  pp.  194  ff. 
''If  106,  St.  21,  p.  198. 


Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture  59 

(pp.  200-201),  and  in  •[  111,  he  gives  ''  Eight  of  St.  Barnard's 
Verses,  both  in  Latin  and  English  " ;  bnt,  nnlike  the  Middle 
English  writer,  he  devotes  a  part  of  his  poem  to  setting  forth 
the  main  facts  of  his  life.^^ 

Altho  Tnsser's  poem  did  not  share  the  fate  of  Palladiums  on 
Hushandrie,  but  was  read  and  reread,^^  and  probably  learned 
by  heart,  it  has  no  definite  interrelations  with  other  georgics ; 
it  stands  quite  apart,  an  apparently  unique  achievement  in 
English  literature. 

3.     Sixteenth-Century  Italian  Poems  on  Agriculture 

Luigi  Alamanni's  Coltivazione  -^  is  the  earliest  Vergilian 
georgic  on  agi'iculture  discussed  by  the  critics.  Alamanni  him- 
self boasts  of  having  been  the  first  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of 
Vergil  and  of  Hesiod.^-    Apparently  he  ignores  such  works  as 

"H  113,  p.  205,  a  division  added  to  the  edition  of  1573. 

='Trom  1557  to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Tusser's  Hushandrie 
passed  ithru  at  least  thirteen  editions.  "  Yet  all  are  scarce,  and  few 
of  them  surviving  are  perfect:  a  proof  that  what  was  intended  for  prac- 
tical use  had  been  sedulously  applied  to  that  purpose.  '  Some  books,' 
says  Mr.  Hazlewood  in  the  British  Bibliographer  No.  iii,  '  become  heirlooms 
from  value;  and  Tusser's  work,  for  useful  information  in  every  department 
of  agriculture,  together  with  its  quaint  and  amusing  observations,  perhaps 
passed  the  copies  from  father  to  son,  till  they  crumbled  away  in  the  bare 
shifting  of  the  pages  and  the  mouldering  relic  only  lost  in  value  by  the 
casual  mutilation  of  time.'  "  E.  D.  S.,  21,  Introd.,  xxii  If.  For  a  catalog  of 
the  editions  of  Tusser  from  1557-1744  see  The  Five  Hundred  Points,  ed. 
W.  Mavor,  London,  1812,  Preliminary  Dissertation,  pp.  17  ff. 

^For  a  list  of  the  editions  of  La  Colt,  see  Hauvette,  op.  cit.  App.  iv,  pp. 
555-6. 

^  Colt.,  I,  32-37,  the  poet  addressing  Francis  I  prays  for  aid: 

Ch'  io  possa  raccontar  del  pio  Villano 
L'arte,  I'opre,  gl'ingegni,  e  le  stagione: 
Che  dovreste  saper  per  pruova  omai, 
Che  dal  favor  di  voi,  non  d'altri,  puote 
Nascer  virtQ,  che  per  le  Tosche  rive 
Or  mi  faccia  seguir  con  degno  piede 
II  chiaro  Mantovan,  I'antico  Ascreo, 
E  mostrar  il  camin  che  ascoso  giace. 


60  The  Georgic 

Poliziano's  Rusticus,  Pontano's  De  Hortis  Hesperidum,  Vida's 
Bombyces,  and  Rvicellai's  Api.  But  Poliziano,  Pontano,  and 
Vida  wrote  in  Latin,  and  it  is  the  theme  of  cultivation  in  gen- 
eral, not  precepts  concerning  bees,  that  Alamanni  proudly 
claims  to  have  reintroduced  to  Italian  poetry.  Since  Bonafede's 
precepts  had  never  been  published,  one  may  reasonably  conclude 
that  the  Tesoro  dei  Rustici  was  unknown  to  Alamanni. 

Ld  Coltivazione  was  not  published  until  1546.  Hauvette^^ 
observes,  however,  that  from  the  end  of  the  year  1539  Alamanni 
had  conceived  the  idea  of  writing  a  poem  on  field  work.^^  The 
idea  was  undoubtedly  suggested  by  Vergil,  but  possibly  Rucel- 
lai's  imitation  of  the  Bees  had  something  to  do  with  it.  The 
Tuscan  poet's  exile  in  France,  his  observation  of  the  peasant 
life  of  a  foreign  country,  probably  aroused  his  interest  in  agri- 
culture. The  troubled  state  of  his  native  land  in  contrast  with 
the  peace  and  prosperity  of  France  made  him  reflect  philoso- 
phically on  the  happiness  of  peasants  working  undisturbed  in 
the  fields ;  prepared  him  for  something  of  the  Yergilian  mood. 

La  Coltivazione  was  written  in  fragments,  a  fact  which  helps 
to  account  for  its  faultiness  of  plan.  It  is  in  six  books,  num- 
bering in  all  more  than  5,000  lines,  vn:-itten  in  blank  verse  in 

Colt.,  I,  1134-37: 

A  te  drizzo  il  mio  stil ;  per  te  sono  oso 

D'esser  primo  a  versar  nei  lidi  Tosclii, 

I>el  diviii  fonte,  che  con  tanto  onore 

Sol  conobbe,  e  gustO  Mantova,  ed  Ascre. 
Colt.,  m,  15-19: 

Voi  mi  potete  sol  menar  al  porto, 

Francesco  invitto,  per  questa  onda  sacra 

Che  per  lo  addietro  ancor  non  elbbe  incarco 

D'altro  legno  Toscano;  e  primo  ardisco 

Pur  col  vostro  favor  dar  vele  ai  venti. 
'^  Op.  cit.,  p.  264. 
" Cp.  the  first  lines  of  II  Diluvio  Roma/no: 

lo  volea  gia  cantar,  gran  re  de'  Franchi, 

L'arte,  I'opre,  gringcgiii  e  le  stagioni, 

Che  fan  verdi  le  piagge,  i  frutti  ombrosi, 

Colmi  i  prati  e'  pastor  d'erbe  e  di'  gregge, 

E  ricco  il  cacciator  d'augelli  e  fere. 


Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture  61 

the  Florentine  tongue.-^  The  first  four  books  treat  of  agricul- 
tural labors  of  spring,  summer,  autumn,  and  winter,  the  fifth 
is  of  gardens,  the  sixth  of  lucky  and  unlucky  days.  Alamanni 
makes  use  of  many  sources,"*'  but  his  debt  to  Vergil  is  by  far 
the  gi'eatest.  To  quote  Hauvette,  "  En  dehors  des  nombreuses 
idees,  images,  expressions,  ou  I'on  reconnait,  un  peu  partout, 
I'echo  des  Georgiques,  a  certains  moments  Alamanni  a  traduit 
plutot  que  paraphrase  le  poeme  de  Virgile."  The  main  features 
of  the  georgic  are  all  present,  except  that  Alamanni  has  no  long 
episodes  like  the  story  of  Aristaeus.  But  the  poem  is  very  far 
from  the  perfection  of  the  Vergilian  model.  Only  so  enthusi- 
astic a  critic  as  Ginguene  can  fail  to  admit  that  the  plan  of 
La  Coltivazione  is  not  good.  The  first  four  books,  of  the 
Seasons,  Hauvette  remarks,  are  reasonable,  if  not  artistic. 
Bk.  V  necessarily  repeats  observations  about  the  seasons.  Bk. 
VI  entirely  lacks  originality,  being  merely  a  translation  of 
Vergil.  Ginguene  comments  upon  it  as  a  long  fragment,  to 
which,  after  having  written  it,  the  author  is  unable  to  assign 
a  place.  It  has  no  prologue,  no  epilogue,  no  episodes.  It  begins 
abruptly  with  the  choice  of  days;  and  ends  abruptly  with 
presages  to  be  drawn  from  changes  of  weather,  from  the  song, 
the  flight,  and  the  different  habits  of  birds. 

La  Coltivazione  is  not,  like  the  Georgics,  preeminently  a 
poem  of  Italy.  Alamanni's  inspiration  ^'^  is  French,  not 
Italian.  The  dedication  is  to  Francis  I,  and  the  poet  eulogizes 
not  his  native  land,  but  France.  The  country  described, 
declares  Hauvette,  is  that  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps,  not  at  the 
foot  of  the  Appenines.  The  fields  of  France  inspired  the  Tuscan 
poet.  When  he  speaks  of  Tuscan  scenes  and  usages  it  is  as  of 
something  remembered  far  away.  His  agricultural  precepts  are 
general,  as  his  title  indicates.  He  is  thinking,  it  seems,  of 
instructions  concerning  agriculture  in  all  countries  and  at  all 

*»  Hauvette  states  that  the  publication  of  La  Colt,  in  1546  is  inrportant 
in  the  history  of  Italian  blank  verse.  The  meter  is  in  general  monotonous, 
but  it  led  the  way  for  others. 

"•Cf.  Ginguene,  op.  cit.  p.  12;  Hauvette,  op.  cit.  p.  273. 

"  Cf.  Hauvette,  op.  cit.  p.  269. 


62  The  Georgic 

times.  But  so  much  for  criticism.  Hauvette  observes  that  one 
of  the  merits  most  willingly  ascribed  to  the  poem  is  its  faithful 
representation  of  what  was  then  the  culture  in  Tuscany. 

No  one  can  bring  against  Alamanni  the  accusation  that  La 
CoUivazione  was  not  written  primarily  to  instruct.  On  the 
contrary,  the  poet  seems  afraid  that  he  will  amuse.  In  his 
poem  he  expresses  fear  that  farm  laborers  will  give  themselves 
up  to  laziness  under  the  pretext  of  enjoying  holidays.  He 
prides  himself  on  the  avoidance  of  long  digressions,  intimating 
that  Vergil  sinned  in  this  respect.^^  But  Alamanni  does  not 
entirely  avoid  digressions,  some  of  which  are  over-long  and  some 
of  which  are  not  well  placed.  The  Golden  Age,  for  example,  is 
discussed  in  the  middle  of  Bk.  ii,  in  an  episode  of  more  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  lines.  It  is  abruptly  introduced,  and 
ends  by  proposing  Francis  I  as  an  example  of  a  wise  and  happy 
life. 

The  description  of  the  Golden  Age  is  H'oratian  rather  than 
Vergilian,  altho  Vergil  is  imitated  in  part.  Alamanni  brings 
out  the  point  that  necessity  begot  invention ;  but  he  does  not 
touch  on  Vergil's  belief  that  it  was  for  man's  benefit  that  Father 
Jove  instituted  cares.  He  emphasizes  the  truth  that  it  is  man's 
destiny  to  suffer,  and  that  he  must  submit.  Yet,  altho  the 
Tuscan  poet  reflects  upon  the  bitterness  of  human  life  and  the 
quick  coming  of  weary  old  age  and  death,^^  he  dwells  philo- 
sophically on  the  truth  that  thru  reproduction  Nature  secures 
to  her  creatures  immortality;  and  unlike  Tusser,  he  looks  with 
envious  idealization  on  the  peasant  state,  deciding  that  it  is 
possible  to  show  future  generations  that  his  age  so  "  neghittoso 
e  vil ,  non  dorme  in  tutto."  ^^ 

"Cf.  Hauvette,  op.  cit.  pp.  280  ff.;  Colt.,  in,  20-25: 

Non  mi  vedrete  andar  con  larghi  giri 
Traviando  sovente  a  mio  diporto, 
Per  lidi  ameni,  ove  piil  frondi,  e  fiori 
Si  ritrovan  talor  che  frutti  ascosi; 
Ma  per  dritto  sentier  mostrando  aperto 
I  tempi,  e'l  buon  oprar  del  pio  cultore. 

»•  Colt.,  I,  330  ff.  "  Colt.,  I,  599  ff. 


Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture  03 

The  opinion  has  been  ventured  that  Alamanni's  precepts  have 
been  of  benefit  to  peasants ;  ^^  Hauvette  thinks  that  this  is  not 
likely.  The  success  of  the  poem  in  the  sixteenth  century  he 
believes  due  largely  to  its  classic  form.  The  reading  public  was 
not  especially  interested  in  agriculture,  but  resigned  itself  to  the 
subject  only  because  Alanianni  followed  in  the  footsteps  of 
Hesiod  and  Vergil.^^ 

The  true  vogue  of  Lob  Coltivazione  begins  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  From  1716  to  1781  the  poem  was  printed  twenty 
times,  and  the  Italians  venerated  Alamanni  as  a  glorious  ances- 
tor, altho  France,  unaccountably,  and  in  Ginguene's  opinion, 
inexcusably,  neglected  him. 

In  general,  Italian  critics  praise  the  poem  highly.  Ginguene's 
praise  is  extravagant ;  but  he  avows  sadly,  ''  La  Coltivazione 
est  un  des  poemes  les  plus  vantes  qui  existent  dans  la  langue 
Italienne,  mais  ce  n'est  pas  un  de  ceux  qu'on  lit  le  plus ;  I'aus- 
terite  de  sujet  en  est  sans  doute  la  cause,"  ^^  The  French  critic 
seems  to  recognize  no  other  cause;  but  his  judgment  is  not  more 
surprising  than  that  of  the  Italian  poet,  Parini,^^  who  pro- 
nounces La  Coltivazione  one  of  the  books  that  it  is  a  reproach 
not  to  have  read. 

Read  after  Ginguene,  Hauvette's  discussion  of  La  Coltiva- 
zione is  refreshing ;  but  more  than  this,  it  is  the  most  illuminat- 
ing work  that  I  have  seen  on  the  subject,  valuable  as  literary 
history,  and  as  criticism.  Hauvette  is  certainly  uninfluenced 
by  older  writers  on  the  Tuscan  poet ;  he  considers  with  equal 
fairness  the  defects  and  the  merits  of  the  poem:  and  Hauvette 
is  probably  the  critic  best  fitted  to  speak  of  Alamanni  and  of 
his  work. 

Historically  considered.  La  Coltivazione  is  of  interest;  any- 
one with  a  predilection  for  georgic  poetry  might  read  parts  of 

"  M.  E.  Percopo,  Gesch.  der  ital.  Lit.,  p.  347.    See  Hauvette,  op.  cit.  p.  280. 

"  From  1546  to  1549  there  were  four  editions  of  La  Colt.,  after  which  it 
was  not  reprinted  until  1590.    Cp.  Hauvette,  op.  cit.  p.  300. 

"Op.  cit.  p.  11. 

*^Principii  delle  belle  lettere  (Opere,  Milan,  1804).  Vol.  vi,  p.  205.  See 
Hauvette,  op.  cit.  p.  301. 


64  The  Georgic 

it  with  pleasure,  but  it  is  very  hard  to  understand  how  it  can 
excite  rapturous  praise.  A  modern  critic  of  unprejudiced  mind 
can  hardly  fail  to  pronounce  it  overlong,  badly  planned,  and  as 
a  whole,  very  tedious. 

Altho  many  sixteenth-century  Italians  wrote  georgics,  no  one 
of  the  age  seems  to  have  imitated  Alamanni  by  writing  a  serious 
and  lengthy  verse  treatise  on  Agriculture.^^  In  1560  Luigi 
Tansillo  wrote  II  Fodere^^  a  didactic  which  reads  like  the 
introductory  chapters  of  a  general  treatise  on  rustic  affairs. 
Tansillo,  however,  does  not  take  his  subject  over  seriously.  The 
poem  is  divided  into  three  brief  "  capitoli,"  ^'^  which  he  himself 
describes  as  "  rime  basse  e  versi  giocosi."  ^^  Capitolo  i  treats 
of  the  choice  of  location,  capitolo  ii  mainly  of  the  diversities  of 
lands,  and  of  how  to  know  good  soils,  capitolo  iii^  of  the  building 
of  the  house. 

The  poet,  familiarly  conversing  with  a  friend  ^^  who  has 
recently  expressed  a  desire  to  buy  a  farm,  attempts  to  teach  in 
a  few  words  what  he  himself  has  learned  in  years.  He  repeats 
many  familiar  maxims  and  imitates  other  favorite  georgic  con- 
ventions.^^ He  emphasizes  the  value  of  toil,  but  the  theme  is 
treated  less  seriously  than  in  the  poems  of  Vergil  and  Alamanni. 
One  would  hardly  characterize  II  Podere  as  a  "  glorification  of 
labor."  The  praise  of  country  life  in  contrast  to  city  evils,  and 
the  precepts  concerning  soils  are  the  most  Vergilian  features  of 
the  poem. 

The  poet's  friend  is  advised  to  buy  what  costs  least  and 

^"Thos.  Kirchmayer's  AgricuUura  Sacra  (Basil,  1550),  translated  by 
Barnaby  Googe  as  The  Boke  of  Spiritual  Husbandry,  is  an  equally  serious 
attempt  of  an  allegorical  nature.    See  above,  p.  42. 

^  L'Egloga  e  i  Poemetti,  con  introd.  e  note  di  Francesco  Flamini,  Napoli, 
1893.    The  poem  was  printed  for  the  first  time  at  Turin,  1769. 

"  In  all,  1158  verses  of  smoothly-flowing  terza  rima. 

^  Cp.  Letter  to  Antonio  Scarampi,  Flamini,  op.  cit.,  p.  xcix. 

'*  Signor  Giovan  Battista  Venere.  See  dedication  to  the  poem.  Flamini, 
op.  cit.  p.  195. 

*°  The  poem  lacks  the  stock  opening,  the  address  to  the  Muse,  the  address 
to  a  patron,  the  panegyric,  the  marking  of  time  by  the  constellations,  the 
discussion  of  weather  signs,  and  the  long  narrative  episode. 


Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture  65 

pleases  most;  to  consider  what  will  be  best  for  physical  well- 
being  and  for  peace  of  mind ;  and  finally  to  choose  a  mountain- 
ous region  because  of  the  view.  Tansillo  makes  no  pretense  of 
delivering  precepts  for  the  benefit  of  an  uneducated  peasantry. 

Like  Alamanni,  he  makes  a  strong  point  of  evils  due  to  bad 
neighbors,^^  and  like  Alamanni,  he  has  a  digression  arising 
from  this  theme.  But  Alamanni  has  a  long  and  serious  episode 
on  emigrations  ancient  and  modern.  Tansillo  gaily  tells  ^sop's 
fable  of  the  tortoise  who  asked  the  privilege  of  carrying  her 
house  on  her  back,  in  order  to  be  a:ble  to  avoid  at  will  distasteful 
neighbors.  The  theme  of  present-day  corruptions  appears  in 
the  poet's  denunciation  of  the  ravages  made  by  the  "  galeoti  " 
along  the  Neapolitan  coasts,  while  Naples  sleeps!  The  poet 
professes  himself  a  man  of  peace,  but  he  considers  it  his  coun- 
try's duty  to  make  war  against  such  outrages.^^ 

Discoursing  on  the  differences  of  soils,  he  pauses  to  give  a 
brief  account  of  the  Golden  Age,^^  and  the  evil  times  that  fol- 
lowed, due,  according  to  his  version,  to  the  theft  of  the  heavenly 
fire  and  the  plucking  of  the  forbidden  apple. 

He  adorns  his  moralizations  on  the  effects  of  thrift  and  indus- 
try by  telling  -^sop's  fable  of  the  dying  man  who  requested  his 
sons  to  dig  for  buried  treasure  in  their  vineyard,'*'*  and  by  nar- 
rating Pliny's  story  of  the  husbandman  tried  for  sorcery  because 
of  the  great  produce  of  his  small  farm.'*^ 

A  discussion  on  roadways  leads  to  a  digression  on  the  subject 
of  woman,* ^  lines  not  paralleled,  so  far  as  I  have  discovered,  in 
any  other  georgic. 

**  Colt.,  TV,  354  S. ;  Pod.,  i,  357  ff.    Op.  also  Praedium  Rusticum,  i,  p.  7  flf. 

*  Pod.,  n,  121-147.  A  reference  to  foreign  countries  occurs  in  this  same 
passage. 

''Pod.,  n,  163-188.  ** Pod.,  n,  190 ff. 

*^Pod.,  II,  201  ff.  Ren6  Rapin,  Eorti,  iv,  124  ff.,  tells  the  same  story, 
making  the  hero  a  "  farmer  of  the  Marsic  race,"  who  shows  his  well-ipolished 
implements  and  produces  his  stout  wife  and  daughter  as  accomplices  in  hifl 
magic  arts.  Delille,  L'Homme  de  Champs,  n,  90  ff.,  repeats  the  story,  but 
cites  his  source,  Plinii  Hist.  Nat.,  1.  xviii,  sect,  viii,  C.  Furius  Cresinus,  a 
liberated  slave,  the  accused. 

*•  Pod.,  in,  28  ff.     Tansillo  shows  himself  very  generous-minded  towards 

5 


66  The  Georgic 

Considering  his  friend's  spiritual  needs,  the  poet  advises  him 
to  have  a  "  magion  di  santo "  ^"^  nearby.  Thus  his  soul  will 
have  more  advantages  than  if  he  were  in  the  city.  The  city  has 
more  pastimes,  but  it  has  also  more  evils.  Blessed  is  he  who 
realizes  his  happiness  among  cultivated  hills  and  valleys  and 
fields.  Happy  he  who  knows  the  causes  of  things,  and  can  tread 
underfoot  all  fears  of  fate  and  death.'*®  But  happier  he  who 
having  seen  the  world  betakes  himself  to  the  country,  and  gives 
himself  to  God.  "  Would  that  I,"  cries  the  poet,  "  might  betake 
myself  to  the  plains  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  and  there  amid 
the  joys  of  family  life  put  into  practice  the  arts  taught  in 
writing  by  Cato,  Vergil,  Pliny,  Columella,*^  and  the  others." 
An  idyll  of  the  innocent  joys  of  country  life  follows,  with  a 
companion  picture,  politely  satirical,  of  the  luxury,  the  hollow- 
ness,  and  the  vices  of  city  life. 

The  unexpected  close  of  the  poem,  writes  Flamini,  is  worthy 
of  note.  It  is  particularly  worthy  of  note  as  the  conclusion  of  a 
georgic.  After  a  number  of  varied  precepts  concerning  the 
building  of  the  house  and  its  situation  among  gardens  and 
woods,  Tansillo  affects  to  discover  that  his  friend  is  in  love. 
Encouraging  him,  the  poet  cries : 

Ed  io  vi  dico:  Fratel  mio,  seguite, 

Seguite  Amor 

Che  sembra  un'  alma,  dove  Amor  non  stanze, 
Casa  di  notte  senza  foco  o  face !  "" 

following  his  advice  with  a  digression  on  the  theory  of  love, 
after  which  he  remarks:   "  While  I  believed  that  we  were  going 

the  weaker  sex.  It  is  both  interesting  and  edifying  to  know  that  a  sixteenth- 
century  Italian  thought  it  worth  while  to  remind  noble  gentlemen  that  they 
are  not  savage  consorts,  that  women  are  not  beasts  of  the  stable,  that  their 
pleasure  must  be  considered,  and  that  if  you  take  them  to  the  country  you 
must  provide  ways  by  which  they  may  occasionally  have  something  more 
interesting  to  look  at  than  trees  and  hedges. 

«  Pod.,  Ill,  46  ff. 

*»  Fod.,  ra,  46-87.    Cp.  Georg.,  ii,  475-495. 

*" "  Columella,"  says  Flamini,  "  is  the  source  among  the  ancients  most 
freely  plundered  by  Tansillo."    O'p.  cit.,  Introd.,  p.  c. 

"  Pod.,  Ill,  334-339. 


Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture  67 

to  a  countrj  place,  our  feet  were  leading  us  to  the  forest  of  Love. 
Here  let  the  way  be  ended," 

Qual  il  poder  si  compri,  io  v'ho  gia  mostro 
A  consiglio  d'antichi  e  di  moderni, 
Perch6  sia  buono  e  degno  d'esser  vostro. 
Se  gli  affanni  domestic!  o  gli  esterni 
Non  m'impediscon,  forse,  un  dl  di  questi, 
I>ir6  come  si  tratte  e  si  governi.*^ 

The  poem  ends  with  the  regret  that  few  indeed  come  to  honor 
Flora,  Pomona,  Ceres,  and  Leneus : 

Ma  non  possan  mai  ipunto  abbandonarlo; 
E  quanto  scrisse  il  Mantovan,  I'Ascreo, 
II  Greco  e'l  Moro,  e  chi  'n  sul  Tebro  nacque, 
Di  buon  vi  venga,  e  fuggane  di  reo; 
E  piaccia  sempre  a  voi  pifi  che  non  piacque, 
El  al  produrre  ed  al  servar  de'  frutti, 
Propizie  egli  abbia  le  stagioni  e  I'acque 
L'aure  e  le  stelle  e  gli  elementi  tutti. 

II  Podere  has  been  praised  as  among  the  most  brilliant  writ- 
ings of  Tansillo's  time.  Certainly  it  is  one  of  the  few  really 
charming  imitations  of  the  Georgics,  an  interesting  illustration 
of  the  possibilities  of  the  type.  The  poet  is  inspired  by  no  high 
call  to  instruct  a  nation,  and  he  makes  no  claim  to  tread  heights 
untrodden  before.  He  has  no  episodes  descriptive  of  nature; 
and  he  does  not  vn-ite  as  if  from  experience  of  the  joys  of  coun- 
try life, — rather  as  if  he  has  read  much  of  them  and  dreamed 
more.  Flamini  says  of  II  Podere  that  it  is  a  free  and  judicious 
imitation;  it  is  an  imitation  made  alive  by  a  gracious  person- 
ality, and  the  sure  touch  of  the  artist  who  writes  sometimes 
lightly,  sometimes  earnestly,  but  always  simply  and  naturally, 
because  his  heart  is  in  what  he  has  to  say. 

II  Podere  is  a  slight  work.  Naturally  it  will  not  bear  com- 
parison with  Vergil's  Georgics,  and  had  Tansillo  attempted  a 
serious  agricultural  treatise  he  would  probably  have  failed.    But 

•^  Pod.,  ni,  364.  Tansillo  never  fulfilled  his  promise,  but  in  1566  he  wrote 
of  the  rearing  of  infants  in  La  Balia  (printed  1767),  Tusser,  in  the  Five 
Hundred  Pointes,  H  92,  treats  the  same  subject  under  the  heading,  "  The 
Good  Motherlie  Nurserie." 


68  The  Georgic 

he  was  wise  enough  to  realize  the  scope  of  his  powers,  and  in 
his  third  capitolo  he  succeeded  in  achieving  a  poem  that  even 
the  stem  critic  Carducci  praises.^^ 

4.     Eighteenth-  and  Nineteenth-Century  Poems  on  Agriculture 

From  the  sixteenth  to  the  eighteenth  century  tTie  poets  seem 
to  have  wisely  avoided  the  theme  of  general  agriculture.  In  the 
eighteenth  century  proof  of  this  wisdom  may  be  had  in  the 
dreary  efforts  of  de  Rosset,  Vaniere,  and  Dodsley. 

Pierre  Larousse  ^^  gives  a  brief  account  of  de  Rosset's  nine 
hooks  on  Agriculture^  which  may  be  summed  up  as  follows: 
The  poem  treats  successively  fields,  vines,  woods,  meadows, 
poultry  yards,  plants,  kitchen  gardens,  pleasure  gardens,  pools, 
and  fish  ponds.  The  writer  uses  some  bizarre  digressions  con- 
cerning the  vine,  beginning  with  a  description  of  the  deluge, 
and  ending  with  an  account  of  carnival.  The  verses  are,  in 
general,  lacking  in  color  and  relief,  but  there  are  some  agreeable 
details  and  some  successful  passages. 

Wordsworth  ^^  is  said  to  have  borrowed  from  de  Rosset,  but 
so  far  as  I  know,  L' Agriculture  is  otherwise  a  poem  of  no  espe- 
cial influence. 

Jacques  Vaniere's  Praedium  Rusticum  is  an  even  more  thoro- 
going  agricultural  treatise  than  that  of  de  Rosset,  since  it  con- 
sists of  no  less  than  sixteen  books,  in  all,  nearly  ten  thousand 
lines  of  Latin  verse  on  almost  every  subject  connected  with 
country  life,  from  the  buying  and  keeping  up  of  a  country  estate, 
to  details  concerning  the  chase. 

Vaniere  began  by  publishing  several  short  Latin  poems, 
georgic  in  character.     Encouraged  by  their  success,  he  used 

■  That  II  Podere  was  not  printed  during  the  poet's  lifetime  was  probably 
due  to  his  own  desire.  Flamini,  op.  cit.  p.  104,  cites  five  editions  that 
appeared  between  the  first  imprint  of  1768  and  1810.  The  didactics  of 
Tansillo  seem  to  have  shared  the  vogue  of  La  CoUwaeione  in  the  eighteenth 
century. 

**  Op.  cit.,  cp.  above,  p.  5. 

"  See  fimile  Legouis,  The  Early  Life  of  William  WordsitxyrHh,  tr.  by  J.  W. 
Matthews,  London,  J.  M.  Dent  and  Co.,  1897,  p.  143,  notes  1  ajid  2. 


Didactic  Poems  an  General  Agriculture  69 

them  as  part  of  the  Praedium  RuMicum  which  was  published  at 
Toulouse  in  1730.  The  entire  poem  was  translated  into  French 
by  Bertrand  d'Halouvry  in  1756,  after  the  author's  death. 
According  to  Pierre  Larousse  ^^  "  de  Faveu  des  meilleurs  cri- 
tiques, il  s'est  approche  de  Virgile  autant  qu'il  est  permis  aux 
poetes  latins  modernes  de  le  faire."  Perhaps  these  words  may 
serve  as  a  warning  to  modern  poets  not  to  attempt  to  write  Latin 
verse.  Yet  the  Praedium  Ru^ticum  is  a  poem  not  without 
merit  and  interest,  to  anyone  who  has  the  patience  to  read  it. 
Writers  on  the  georgic  such  as  Delille,  de  Rosset,  and  Saint 
Lambert  ^^  consider  it  in  their  discussions ;  and  certainly  it  is 
of  value  as  an  illustration  of  the  curious  hold  that  the  georgic 
type  had  on  the  eighteenth-century  mind,  and  of  the  fashion  in 
which  the  same  conventions  and  the  same  themes  recur  over  and 
over  again  in  georgic  poetry. ^'^ 

Dodsley's  Agriculture  ^^  appeared  in  1754,  three  cantos, 
written  in  blank  verse.  The  first  canto  is  mainly  introductory, 
dealing  with  general  advantages  of  the  farmer's  life ;  but  various 
farm  implements  are  recommended,  and  technically  described. 
The  second  canto  treats  of  soils  and  trees,  the  third  of  harvest. 

In  the  preface  Dodsley  states  his  limitations,  admitting  that 
he  has  little  learning  ;^^  but  his  poem  shows  that  he  is  well 
acquainted  with  the  Vergilian  didactics  and  that  he  has  great 
reverence  for  his  model.  Altho  he  does  not  imitate  the  unity 
of  plan  in  the  Georgics,  he  carefully  follows  the  georgic  con- 
ventions. 

The  poem  is  addressed  to  the  Prince  of  Wales ;  Pure  Intelli- 

"  Op.  cit.  vol.  XV,  p.  764. 

"See  above,  p.  5. 

"  In  the  Paris  edition  of  1746,  marginal  notes  aid  the  reader  in  a  study 
of  the  author's  use  of  georgic  features.  This  volume  is  of  especial  value 
because  of  the  delightful  woodcuts  that  adorn  each  book. 

"  Robt.  Anderson :  Brit.  Poets,  vol.  xi.  Dodsley  had  planned  to  write 
in  three  books  (r,  Agriculture;  ii,  Commerce;  in.  Arts)  a  poem  entitled 
Public  Virtue.    He  completed  only  the  first  book. 

"This  fact  is  noteworthy,  for  all  the  other  imitators  of  the  Oeorgica, 
unless  Falconer  be  classed  among  them,  are  men  familiar  with  the  classics 
from  youth. 


70  The  Georgic 

gence,  "  Genius  of  Britain,"  is  invoked.  The  Muse  figures 
prominently.  She  disdains,  be  it  noted,  idle  themes,  and  the 
farmer  is  bidden  to  attend  her  and  thus  become  frugal  and  blest ; 
so  shall  Industry  give  him  peace,  while  the  Great,  diseased  by 
luxury  and  sloth,  envy  him. 

A  narrative  episode  tells  the  romantic  tale  of  a  milkmaid, 
Patty,  whose  conventional  charms,  "  ivory  teeth,"  "  lips  of 
living  coral,"  and  "  breath  sweeter  than  the  morning  gale,"  win 
the  love  of  Thyrsis,  who,  altho  he  is  her  social  superior,  marries 
her  and  lives  with  her  in  a  state  of  Golden  Age  happiness. 

Dodsley's  imitation  of  Vergil's  "  O  fortunatos  nimium  "  ^° 
is,  perhaps,  the  more  pleasing  for  the  poet's  lack  of  Latin.  He 
knows  the  meaning  of  the  simple  life,  and  has  learned  to  value 
truly  "  the  gracious  nothing  of  a  great  man's  nod."  The  pas- 
sage ends  with  the  religious  note  that  "  rural  joys  invite  to 
sacred  thought  and  meditation  on  God."  ^^ 

Being  an  eighteenth-century  poet,  and  an  imitator  of  Vergil, 
Dodsley  burns  to  explore  the  secret  ways  of  sweet  Philosophy, 
but  he  particularly  desires  to  know  the  causes  of  f ruitfulness  in 
the  vegetable  world,  and  because  of  this  desire  he  ventures  upon 
an  allegory  in  which  he  attempts  to  explain  the  theory  of  vege- 
tation. 

The  second  canto  has  many  echoes  of  Vergil ;  and  Thomson's 
influence  can  be  seen.  The  poet's  dreams  of  an  ideal  estate  are 
eighteenth-century  dreams  in  accord  with  the  new  English  fash- 
ions of  landscape  gardening,  and  are  based  on  an  intimate  and 
loving  knowledge  of  Shenstone's  Leasowes  and  Lyttleton's 
Hagley. 

The  canto  closes  with  a  passage  on  the  lessons  of  Epicurus, 
emphasizing  the  belief  that  the  end  of  life  is  happiness,  and 
virtue  the  means  to  that  end.  The  whole  passage  is  a  rhapsody 
on  the  blessings  of  retired  rural  life.^^ 

*"  Agricult.,  I,  299  flF.    Cp.  Oeorg.  ii. 

"  Cp.  the  conclusion  of  Akenside's  Pleasures  of  the  Imagination,  Bk.  iii, 
original  version. 

"  Cp.  the  conclusion  of  Georg.  n. 


Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture  71 

In  the  third  canto,  harvesting,  the  products  of  England's  soil, 
and  the  care  of  cattle  are  discussed.  In  the  section  on  harvest- 
ing the  poet  dwells  on  the  ills  that  constantly  threaten  life, 
treating  the  subject  with  an  eighteenth-century  note,  in  a  prayer 
to  Heaven  to  protect  the  farmer  from  the  carelessness  of  the 
huntsman. ^^  Dodsley  makes  also  an  outcry  against  the  oppres- 
sions of  the  rich,  but  he  very  justly  dwells  upon  the  fact  that 
some  wise  and  good  masters  still  exist. 

In  a  visit  to  the  happy  Patty  of  Canto  i,  precepts  are  deliv- 
ered concerning  cheesemaking  and  the  care  of  horses,  the  latter 
topic  calling  forth  a  protest  against  the  unnecessary  cruelty  of 
drivers  of  draught  horses.^^  The  poem  closes  with  an  address 
to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  in  georgic  spirit  urging  him  to  embrace 
the  arts  of  peace  rather  than  the  arts  of  war. 

Dodsley's  poem  is  not  a  long  and  detailed  treatise  on  agricul- 
ture like  the  works  of  de  Rosset  and  Vaniere,  but  it  has  been 
less  considered  than  even  those  ill-fated  efforts.  It  can  hardly 
be  called  good  poetry,  altho  it  has  some  pleasing  passages.  It  is 
interesting  partly  because  it  illustrates  eighteenth-century  habits 
of  thought,  chiefly  because  Dodsley  wrote  it.  That  one  of  the 
most  successful  of  London  booksellers,  associated  with  the  most 
brilliant  men  of  his  time,  thought  it  worth  while  to  write  a 
georgic,  is  significant  of  the  literary  indulgence,  if  not  of  the 
literary  taste,  of  the  period.  That  the  complete  design  of  the 
poet  was  not  carried  out  indicates  that  there  were  limits  to  the 
endurance  even  of  the  eighteenth  century.  That  Dodsley  real- 
ized the  imperfections  of  his  poem,  and  that  he  received  some 
encouragment  regarding  it,  may  be  seen  from  the  words  of 
Horace  Walpole,^^  "  I  am  sorry  you  think  it  any  trouble  for 
me  to  peruse  your  poem  again.    I  always  read  it  with  pleasure." 

Erasmus  Darwin  might  be  expected  to  have  written  a  georgic, 
but  he  did  not.    The  nearest  approach  that  he  made  to  following 

■^  Cp.  Shenstone,  Rural  Elegance,  st.  2;  Gay,  Rural  Sports,  281  ff. ;  Somer- 
ville,  The  Chase,  i,  51  flF. 

"  Cp.  Gay,  Trivia,  n,  231  ff. 

''Letters  of  Horace  Walpole,  ed.  Mrs.  Paget  Toyn'bee,  Oxford,  1903,  vol. 
ni,  p.  195. 


72  The  Georgic 

this  literary  fashion  is  found  in  his  Phytologia,  or  the  Phi- 
losophy of  Agriculture  and  Gardening,  a  prose  work  published 
at  London  and  at  Dublin  in  1800,^^  in  which,  at  intervals,  he 
breaks  into  verse. 

Discussing  the  effect  of  winds,  Darwin  quotes  the  old  proverb, 

The  wind  from  north-east 
Destroys  man  and  beast: 
The  wind  from  south-west 
Is  always  the  best." 

He  translates  into  rimed  couplets  Vergil's  lines  on  grafting;®* 
and  he  concludes  a  section  on  the  art  of  producing  flower-buds 
with  a  verse  quotation  from  the  Botanic  Garden.^^  In  conclud- 
ing his  observations  on  fruits,  he  prefaces  a  poetic  outburst  on 
the  "Art  of  Pruning  Wall  Trees"  with  the  remark,  "The 
following  lines  are  inserted  to  amuse  the  reader,  and  to  imprin  t 
some  of  the  foregoing  doctrine  on  his  memory."  "^^  To  show 
what  Darwin  might  have  done  in  the  way  of  a  georgic,  I  quot*^ 
a  specimen  of  this  outburst  on  the  "  Art  of  Pruning  Wall 
Trees  " : 

Behead  new-grafted  trees  in  spring, 
Ere  the  first  cuckoo  tries  to  sing; 
But  leave  four  swelling  buds  to  grow 
With  wide-diverging  arms  below; 

and  another  still  more  characteristic  specimen  from  The  Art  vf 
Pruning  Melons  and  Cucumbers: 

When  melon,  cucumber  and  gourd. 
Their  two  first  rougher  leaves  afi'ord 
Ere  yet  these  second  leaves  advance 
Arm'd  with  fine  knife  or  scissors  good 
Bisect  or  clip  the  central  bud: 
Whence  many  a  lateral  branch  instead 
Shall  rise  like  hydra's  fabled  head. 
When  the  fair  belles  in  gaudy  rows 
Salute  their  vegetable  Ijeaux; 


*"  My  citations  are  from  the  London  edition. 

•'  Sect.  XIII,  p.  306.  '"Sect,  xv,  p.  301. 

•*Sect.  XV,  p.  412.    Cp.  The  Botanic  Garden,  vol.  I,  canto  4,  1.  465. 

"  Sect.  XV,  p.  429. 


Didactic  Poems  on  General  Agriculture  73 

And,  as  they  lose  their  virgin  bloom, 
Shew,  ere  it  swells,  the  pregnant  womb; 
Lop,  as  each  crowded  branch  extends, 
The  barren  flowers  and  leafy  ends. 

He  concludes  a  section  on  leaves  and  wood  with  a  poetic  address 
to  Swilcar  Oak/^  which  he  thinks  "  may  amuse  the  weary- 
reader."  And  his  final  outburst  is  really  a  brief  georgic  on  the 
cultivation  of  Brocoli,  translated  in  part  from  the  elegant  Latin 
poem  of  Edward  Tighe,  Esq.'^^  This  remarkable  production 
begins  as  follows : 

There  are  of  learned  taste,  who  still  prefer 

Cos-lettuce,  tarragon,  and  cucumber; 

There  are,  who  still  with  equal  praises  yoke 

Young  ipeas,  asparagus,  and  artichoke ; 

Beaux  there  are  still  with  lamib  and  spinach  nurs'd. 

And  clowns  eat  beans  and  bacon,  till  they  burst. 

This  boon  I  ask  of  Fate,  where'er  I  dine, 

O,  be  the  Proteus  form  of  cabbage  mine!  — 

Cale,  colewort,  cauliflower,  or  soft  and  clear 

If  Brocoli  delight  thy  nicer  ear. 

Give,  rural  Muse !  the  culture  and  the  name 

In  verse  immortal  to  the  rolls  of  Fame. 

Directions  follow  for  sowing  cabbage  seed,  hoeing  the  young 
plants,  etc.,  the  time  for  each  successive  labor  being  marked  by 
the  zodiacal  sign;  and  the  effort  concludes  with  the  following 
address  to  the  writer  whose  "  elegant  Latin  verses  are  in  part 
translated  " : 

Oft  in  each  month,  poetic  Tighe,  be  thine 
To  dish  green  Brocoli  with  savory  chine; 
Oft  down  thy  tuneful  throat  be  thine  to  cram 
The  snow-white  cauliflower  with  fowl  and  ham! — • 
Nor  envy  thou,  with  such  rich  viands  blest. 
The  pye  of  Perigord,  or  Swallow's  nest. 

In  1809,  James  Grahame  published  at  Edinburgh  a  quarto 
volume  of  three  hundred  and  forty  pages  in  blank  verse,  entitled 

"  Sect.  x\an,  p.  528. 

"  Sect,  xrx,  p.  560.  I  have  not  been  able  Ito  identify  Edward  Tighe.  He 
might  be  the  Edward  Tighe,  M.  P.  for  Wicklow,  1790,  named  in  Burke's 
Genealogical  and  Heraldic  Hist,  of  the  Landed  Gentry  of  Ireland. 


74  The  Georgic 

British  Georgics.  An  interesting  criticism  of  the  poem  is  given 
in  the  Edinburgh  Review  J  ^  An  idea  of  the  style  of  this  lengthy 
effort  may  be  had  from  a  number  of  extracts  quoted,  mostly 
descriptive  passages,  and  those  in  which  "  the  author's  tender- 
ness and  kindness  of  heart  ...  is  very  conspicuous."  The 
comment  on  the  title,  "  British  Georgics,"  is  of  particular  inter- 
est:  "  The  '  Georgics '  may  be,  as  Mr.  Grahame  assures  us,  the 
proper  appellation  for  all  treatises  of  husbandry  in  verse,  the 
'  Scottish  Farmer's  Kalendar '  would  have  been  a  little  more 
descriptive  of  the  plan  and  substance  of  the  work  before  us. 
The  scenery  Scotch,  the  poem  divided  into  twelve  parts  or 
sections  arranged  in  order,  and  under  the  names  of  the  twelve 
months  of  the  year,  with  full  directions  for  all  farm  work  in 
each  month  respectively." 

The  writer  in  the  Review  expresses  the  opinion  that  the  poem 
will  not  remove  the  general  objections  to  didactic  poetry.  He 
is  convinced  that  no  practical  farmer  will  be  willing  to  become 
instructed  thru  the  medium  of  blank  verse,  and  lovers  of  poetry, 
he  believes,  will  become  discouraged  by  the  precepts  that  would 
interest  the  farmer  if  written  in  a  less  ambitious  form.  The 
conclusion  of  the  critic  with  regard  to  the  poem  is  very  generous 
not  only  to  Mr.  Grahame,  but  to  all  writers  and  to  all  readers 
of  georgics.  "  They  who  do  read  on,  however,"  he  declares, 
"  will  be  rewarded,  we  think,  by  many  pleasing  and  beautiful 
passages;  and  even  those,  whose  natures  are  too  ungentle  to 
admire  this  kind  of  poetry,  must  love  the  characters  from  which 
it  proceeds,  and  which  it  has  so  strong  a  tendency  to  form." 

The  British  Georgics  seem  to  have  been  the  last  serious 
attempt  at  a  didactic  dealing  with  general  agricultural  pre- 
cepts.*^^  If  any  other  poems  of  this  nature  were  written,  even 
their  names  have  become  lost  to  the  public ;  and  Grahame's  work, 
far  from  "  removing  the  general  objections  to  didactic  poetry," 
has,  itself,  almost  completely  passed  into  oblivion. 

"1810,  vol.  x\^,  p.  213  ff. 

'*  Altho  Francis  Jammes'  poem  Les  Q6orgiques  chrctiennes  treats  of  agri- 
cultural labors,  it  cannot  be  said  to  d-eal  with  precepts  concerning  agricul- 
ture.   See  above,  pp.  46-47. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  75 


CHAPTER  V 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens 
1.     From  Columella  to  William  Mason 

Vergil,  regretting  that  he  is  debarred  by  scanty  space  ^  from 
lingering  on  the  theme  of  "  Gardens,"  leaves  it  to  others  who 
will  come  after  him.^  Columella  -  was  the  first  to  undertake 
the  task.    He  begins  his  Carmen  de  Cultu  Hortorum: 

Hortorum  quoque  te  cultus,  Silvine,  docebo, 
Atque  ea,  quae  quondam  spatiis  exclusus  iniquis, 
Cum  caneret  laetas  segetes  et  munera  Bacchi, 
Et  te,  magna  Pales,  nee  non  eaelestia  mella, 
Vergilius  nobis  post  se  memoranda  reliquit. 

This  introduction  is  followed  by  precepts  on  gardening ;  such 
matters  as  soils,  sites  and  irrigation  being  treated  in  detail. 
Vergil  is  imitated  in  the  use  of  mythological  allusions,  in  the 
marking  of  time  by  the  constellations,  and  in  references  to  the 
products  of  foreign  countries ;  but  in  the  later  writer's  work 
there  is  nothing  of  Vergil's  imagination,  Vergil's  delicacy  of 
perception,  Vergil's  brotherhood  with  all  things  that  live  and 
grow.  Columella  was  no  doubt  moved  by  a  pious  motive,  but 
it  would,  perhaps,  have  been  as  wise  had  he  written  the  tenth 
book  of  the  De  Re  Rustica  in  prose. 

In  the  centuries  immediately  after  Columella,  other  writers 
may  have  been  moved  to  avail  themselves  of  Vergil's  legacy; 
but  they  either  found  themselves  unequal  to  the  task  of  the 
didactic  on  gardens,  or  the  public  failed  in  appreciation  of  their 
efforts.  In  medieval  monasteries,  however,  delight  in  nature 
found  expression  in  verse.  Agriculture  flourished  under  the 
care  of  skilled  monks,  and  gardening  was  a  recreation  as  well 

'  Georg.,  iv,  147-148. 

*  Columella  lived  in  the  Ist  c.  A.  D.  See  above,  p.  28.  The  tenth  book 
of  his  treatise  on  agriculture  is  written  in  hexameters.  Rei  Rustioae  Liber 
Decimiis.     Vpsalae,  1902. 


76  The  Georgic 

as  a  labor.  "  The  idyll  of  the  cloister  garden  so  often  treated 
became  famous  in  the  much-read  Hortulus  of  Wahlafried,"  ^ 
a  brief  poem  belonging  to  the  ninth  century,  in  which  the  writer 
tells  in  detail  how  he  works  with  his  own  hands  in  his  garden, 
and  describes  his  herbs  and  flowers,  lingering  upon  their  uses 
and  their  loveliness.  The  poem  shows  classical  influence;  the 
flrst  lines  and  the  conclusion,  with  its  address  to  Grimald,  sug- 
gest the  character  of  the  georgic ;  but  Wahlaf rid  evidently  made 
no  effort  to  follow  the  Vergilian  plan,  and  he  makes  no  allusion 
to  Vergil's  bequest  of  the  theme  of  gardens.  The  Hortulus  can 
hardly  be  said  to  have  any  plan.  The  first  part  tells  of  the  poet's 
work  in  his  garden ;  the  remainder  is  divided  into  sections  treat- 
ing of  different  herbs  and  flowers,  one  variety  following  the 
other  quite  indiscriminately.  First  one  reads  of  lilies  and  pop- 
pies, then  of  plants  useful  as  medicines  and  in  the  kitchen.  The 
lines  on  radishes  are  followed  by  a  description  of  the  rose.  Yet 
there  are  in  the  poem  graceful  and  poetic  touches,  and  at  least 
it  can  be  said  that  Wahlafrid  writes  with  more  imagination  of 
the  rose  than  of  the  radish. 

From  the  ninth  to  the  fifteenth  century  there  is  a  blank  in  the 
history  of  the  didactic  on  gardens.  Then  Palladius  was  trans- 
lated into  English  verse,  and  "  Mayster  Ion  Gardener  "  ^  wrote 
his  curious  verses  on  the  theme  with  which,  one  might  judge 
from  his  name,  he  was  most  familiar.  There  is  nothing  more 
than  his  name  by  which  to  judge,  for,  so  far,  he  has  not  been 
identified.  The  poem  was  apparently  written  somewhere  be- 
tween 1440  and  1450.  The  title  heading  of  the  manuscript, 
"  The  Feate  of  Gardening,"  is  added  in  a  later  hand.  The 
dialect  of  the  poem  points  to  Kent,  which  was  famous  for  gar- 
dens and  orchards. 

The  Middle  English  Palladius  has  a  number  of  interesting 

*  A.  Biese,  op.  dt.,  ip.  61.  Walafrid,  or  Wahlafrid  Strabo,  abbot  of 
Reichenau,  d.  849.  The  Hortulus  has  been  published  in  a  number  of  Latin 
collections.    See  Migne,  Pair.  Lat.  Paris,  1852,  vol.  114,  pp.  1119-1130. 

* "  On  a  Fifteenth  Century  Treatise  on  Gardening.  By  Mayster  Ion 
Gardener."  With  remarks  communicated  by  the  Hon.  Alicia  M.  Tyssen 
Amherst.    Archaeologia,  1894,  pp.  157  S. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  77 

pages  on  gardening ;  but  John  Gardener's  verses  are  more  inter- 
esting because  the  ''  Feate  of  Gardening  "  is  not  only  the  earliest 
English  poem  on  this  subject,  but,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  earliest 
English  georgic  on  any  subject.  The  poem,  itself,  is  rude  dog- 
gerel, of  value  in  the  history  of  English  gardens,  as  in  the  history 
of  the  didactic  on  English  gardens.  John  Gardener's  instruc- 
tions are  very  sensible  and  reasonable,  very  free,  Mrs.  Amherst 
remarks,  from  superstitions  regarding  astrology,  and  from 
extravagant  fancies  in  grafting  and  growing  plants.  Equally 
free  is  the  poet  from  rhetorical  ambitions.  In  such  direct 
fashion  does  the  Feate  of  Gardening  begin : 

Ho  so  wyl  a  gardener  be 

Here  he  may  both  hyre  &  se 

Every  time  of  the  3ere  and  of  the  mone 

lAiid  how  the  crafte  shaii  be  done 

Yn  what  maner  he  shaH  delve  &  sette 

Bothe  yn  drowthe  and  yn  wette 

How  he  shaii  hys  sedys  sowe 

Of  euery  moneth  he  most  knowe 

Bothe  of  wortys  and  of  leke 

Ownyns  and  of  garleke 

Percely  clarey  and  eke  sage 

And  all  other  herbage. 

The  following  lines  on  parsley  illustrate  John  Gardener's 
method  of  imparting  precepts  and  show  the  pleasant  quality  of 
his  rude  verse : 

Percell  kynde  ys  for  to  be 

To  be  sow  yn  ]>e  monthe  of  mars  so  mote  y  the 

He  wul  grow  long  and  thykke 

And  ever  as  he  growyth  ]>u  schalt  hym  kytte 

pu  may  hym  kytte  by  resoun 

pryes  yn  one  seson 

In  the  matter  of  superstitions,  John  Gardener's  reasonable- 
ness contrasts  strongly  with  the  Middle  English  Palladius,  of 
which  the  pages  are  adorned  with  curious  suggestions.  There 
is  advised,  for  example,  as  a  remedy  against  hail,  the  planting 
of  white  vines  around  the  garden,  or  the  setting  up  of  an  owl 
with  outstretched  wings.    Thus  writes  the  translator : 


78  The  Georgic 

Gird  eke  thi  garth  aboute  in  vynes  white; 
Or,  sprad  the  wynges  oute,  sette  up  an  oule. 
Whi  laugh  ye  so?  this  craft  is  not  so  lite. 
Or  take  thi  spades,  rake,  knyff,  and  shovelle 
And  evry  tole  in  beres  grees  defoule. 
Eke  sum  have  stamped  oile  with  grees  of  beres 
To  greece  her  vyne  knyflf  for  dyveres  deres. 

But  that  a  man  must  doo  full  prively. 
That  never  a  warkman  wite,  and  this  is  goode 
For  frost,  and  myst,  and  wormes  sekirly. 
But  as  I  trust  in  X  that  shedde  his  bloode 
For  us,  who  tristeth  this  Y  hold  him  wode. 
Myn  author  eke,   (whoo  list  in  him  travaille!) 
Seith  this  prophaned  thyng  may  nought  availe." 

John  Gardener's  treatise  was  certainly  -uninfluenced  by  the 
beliefs  of  Palladius;  nor  does  he  show  acquaintance  with 
literary  models  of  any  kind.  He  wrote,  evidently,  from  practi- 
cal experience,  perhaps,  like  the  translator  of  the  Palladius,  at 
some  special  request  or  command.  His  verses  mark  the  rude 
beginnings  that  culminate  in  such  "  elegant "  attempts  as  those 
of  Mr.  Mason's  English  Garden,  as  Paganino  Bonafede's  ® 
beginnings  culminate  in  such  works  as  La  CoUivazione  and 
II  Canapajo. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  I  know  of  only  one  poem  on  the 
subject  of  the  cultivation  of  gardens,  Giuseppe  Milio  Voltolina's 
Delia  Coltura  degli  Orti,  published  at  Brescia  in  the  year  1574."^ 
Tiraboschi  mentions  an  essay  by  Cardinal  Querini  in  which  this 
work  is  highly  praised;  and  he  remarks  also  that  had  Pere 
Rapin  known  of  Voltolina's  poem  he  would  not  have  boasted  of 
having  been  the  first  to  write  of  gardens. 

In  the  Five  hundred  Pointes  of  Good  Husbandry  Thomas 
Tusser  has  some  stanzas  on  gardening,  in  which  he  gives  general 
rules  for  the  recognition  of  good  soil,  and  tells  the  reader  when 
and  how  to  "  sow  and  set."  ® 

'Palladius,  op.  cit.,  p.  31.  'See  above,  p.  29. 

'  Tiraboschi,  op.  cit.,  T.  vil,  p.  2137. 

•  46-48  ff.  In  "  Marches  Abstract,"  38,  Tusser  gives  long  lists  of  various 
seeds,  herbs,  and  flowering  plants,  naming  their  uses  and  the  time  to  sow 
and  set  them. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  79 

The  fifth  book  of  Alamanni's  Coltivazione  is  of  gardens 
"  come  si  coltivano  in  ogni  stagione,"  but  the  Tuscan  poet  does 
not  mention  the  fact  that  he  is  developing  the  theme  that  Vergil 
regretted  to  leave  unsung.  The  book  begins  with  an  invitation 
to  Priapus,  followed  by  an  extravagant  eulogy  of  King  Francis 
and  a  tribute  to  the  gardens  of  Fontainebleau.  The  poet  treats 
digging  and  manuring,  and  the  varieties  of  flowers,  moralizing 
on  the  power  of  industry  and  art  to  accomplish  all  things  and 
digressing  at  great  length  on  the  differences  in  animals,  men, 
and  races. 

He  sings  of  flowers;  roses,  lilies  and  hyacinths;  and  of  the 
tree  of  the  Hesperides,  the  golden  fruit  of  the  tropics ;  of  hum- 
ble but  equally  useful  plants,  artichokes,  cucumbers,  gourds, 
onions,  etc. ;  but  he  makes  little  more  appeal  to  the  imagination 
when  he  writes  of  roses  and  hyacinths  than  when  he  talks  of 
cucumbers  and  gourds.  However,  his  practical  advice  is  worth 
considering;  his  pious  selections  seem  none  the  less  devout,  his 
account  of  the  small  annoyances  of  gardening  none  the  less 
depressing,  because  they  are  what  one  expects  to  find  in  a 
mediocre  georgic. 

Altho  Columella  is  one  of  Alamanni's  sources,^  the  tenth 
book  of  the  De  Re  Rustica  is  neither  used  nor  referred  to  by 
the  Florentine  poet.  However,  in  his  book  on  gardens,  Ala- 
manni  does  not  claim,  as  does  Rene  Rapin,  to  explore 

With  bold  attempt  a  way  untrod  before. 

Rapin's  Horti,^^  one  of  the  very  few  georgics  to  be  found  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  is  in  four  books :  "  Of  Gardens,"  "  Of 
Trees,"  "  Of  Waters,"  and  "  Of  Orchards,"  all  systematically 
planned  and  written  according  to  the  Vergilian  model,  all 
imitating  carefully  the  Vergilian  motives. 

In  the  preface  Rapin  defends  his  methods,  particularly  his 
digressions,  and  his  selection  of  only  the  more  general  fruits. 
His  digressions,  he  says,  are  warranted  by  the  practice  of  the 

•  Cf.  Ginguen^,  op.  cit.,  p.  12 ;  Hauvette,  op.  cit.,  p.  273. 
"  Paris,  1665. 


80  The  Georgic. 

Greek  poets,  his  use  of  selection  by  the  example  of  Vergil.  The 
end  of  didactic  poetry,  declares  Rapin,  is  to  instruct,  and  this 
is  the  chief  end  of  poetry  in  general.  The  moral,  however,  does 
not  shoot  "  point  blank,"  but  hits  the  mark  none  the  less  effec- 
tively. The  great  art  of  poetry  is  that  of  pleasing,  whence  it 
persuades,  and  herein  it  excels  even  philosophy,  whose  sole  aim 
is  to  inform  the  understanding. 

Eapin  lives  up  to  his  principle  of  not  shooting  the  moral 
point  blank,  for  he  digresses  continually,  telling  a  story  about 
almost  every  flower  he  names.  An  interesting  episode  arises 
from  an  account  of  the  uses  of  flowers;  the  story  of  a  happy 
swain,  who  raised  flowers  for  the  curing  of  ills.  Rapin  here 
suggests  the  writing  of  a  medicinal  georgic,  but  leaves  the  task 
to  someone  else.^^ 

Rapin's  poem  is  particularly  interesting  for  its  precepts  con- 
cerning formal  gardening.  Box  hedges,  straight  gravel  walks, 
and  the  esplanade,  delight  the  poet's  eye.  He  would  have  shud- 
dered at  the  thought  of  the  "  studied  negligence  "  of  the  English 
garden. 

Hallam  ^^  writes  of  Rapin :  "  For  skill  in  varying  and  adorn- 
ing his  subject,  for  truly  Vergilian  spirit  in  expression,  for  the 
exclusion  of  feeble,  prosaic  or  awkward  lines,  he  may  perhaps 
be  equal  to  any  poet,  to  Sannazarius  himself.  HHs  cadences  are 
generally  very  gratifying  to  the  ear,  and  in  this  respect  he  is 
much  above  Vida.  But  his  subject  or  his  genius  has  prevented 
him  from  rising  very  high ;  he  is  the  poet  of  gardens,  and  what 
gardens  are  to  nature,  that  is  he  to  mightier  poets."  Yet  while 
the  difficulties  of  Rapin's  theme  can  easily  be  granted,  remem- 
bering Vergil,  one  hardly  hesitates  to  say  that  it  is  Rapin's 
genius,  not  his  subject,  that  prevents  him  from  rising  very  high. 

Rapin's  Horti  was  translated  into  French  and  English,  and 
like  other  georgics,  seems  to  have  been  most  widely  read  in  the 

"  See  above,  p.  42. 

"  Introd.  to  the  Lit.  of  Europe  in  the  15th,  16th,  and  nth  c.  In  3  vols., 
Boston,  1854;  vol.  m,  p.  491. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  81 

eighteenth  centurv.^^  lu  1728,  Bernard  Lintot,  the  publisher 
of  James  Gardiner's  translation,  observes  that  books  of  garden- 
ing were  in  great  vogue,  and  gentlemen  were  curious  about 
looking  into  them.  He  does  not  share  Hallam's  doubts  regarding 
Rapin's  genius  and  his  subject,  for  he  writes:  "  I  will  be  bold 
to  say  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  whole  Art  of  Gardening  which 
is  not  to  be  found  in  Rapin,  and  that  adorned  ,with  all  the 
embellishments  and  Advantages  that  the  greatest  genius  of  his 
age  could  possibly  give  to  so  pleasant  a  subject  in  poetical  dress." 
"  Compare,"  adds  Lintot,  "  the  judicious  Mr.  Evelyn's  opinion 
of  it."  The  ''  judicious  Mr.  Evelyn  "  ends  his  Sylva  or  Dis- 
course of  Forest  Trees,  with  the  following  encomium :  "  I  con- 
clude this  book  and  whole  discourse,  of  that  incomparable  Poem 
of  Rapinus,  as  epitomizing  all  we  have  said.  I  cannot  there- 
fore but  wonder  that  excellent  Piece,  so  elegant,  pleasant,  and 
instructive,  should  be  no  more  inquired  after."  Lintot  con- 
tinues: "  It  would  be  superfluous  after  this  one  encomium  of 
Mr.  Evelyn's,  considering  his  character  for  veracity.  Judgment 
in  Poetry,  and  Skill  in  Gardening,  to  add  any  more  in  praise 
of  the  Original." 

Lintot  adds  that  he  has  been  enjoined  to  silence  concerning 
the  translator,  but  he  cannot  forbear  to  raise  his  voice  in  praise, 
and  after  Rapin's  preface  he  prints  several  poems  in  Latin  and 
in  English,  encomiums  of  Mr.  Gardiner's  excellent  translation. 

Mr.  Gardiner's  translation  is  done  in  eighteenth-century 
couplets,  in  eighteenth-century  style.  His  poem  might  very 
easily  pass  for  an  early  eighteenth-century  production,  but  it 
does  not  abound  in  the  circumlocutions  so  prevalent  in  the 
georgics  of  the  period,  and  Rapin's  formal  gardens  are  in  strik- 
ing contrast  to  the  landscapes  of  Knight  and  Mason  and  Delille. 

"  The  second  French  translation  in  prose,  printed  with  the  Latin  text,  is 
by  MM.  Vyron  and  Cabiot,  a  new  ed.,  Paris,  1802.  It  was  suggested  by 
a  reading  of  Delille's  Jardins.  An  English  translation  appeared  in  London, 
1673,  Cambridge,  1706  (the  year  of  the  publication  of  Philip's  Cyder),  and 
in  London,  1728,  the  latter  Jas.  Gardiner's  "  Englished  Version,"  ed.  3.  In 
the  same  year  appeared  also  John  Lawrence's  Paradise  Regained:  or  the 
Art  of  Gardening. 

6 


82  The  Georgic 

Mrs.  Cecil  ^"^  notes  in  her  bibliography  a  Carmen  de  Cultu 
Hortorum  by  Richard  Richardson,  published  in  London  in 
1669,  but  I  know  nothing  further  of  either  the  writer  or  the 
poem.  The  first  original  eighteenth-century  didactic  on  gardens 
written  in  English  is,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  the 
rare  and  curious  work  of  John  Lawrence,  Paraddse  Regained: 
or  the  Art  of  Gardening y^  To  one  uninterested  in  the  georgic, 
this  work,  whose  title  promises  so  much,  is  a  ''  dreary  poem, 
so-called,  of  fifty-nine  pages."  A  plague,  it  seems,  is  raging  in 
town,  so  that  the  poet  leaves, 

And  now  retir'd  to  Streams  and  Sylvan  glades, 
With  other  fine  Poetical  Parades, 
To  stations  near,  where  Cowley  tuned  his  Lyre, 
To  Hills,  exalted  more  by  Denham's  Fire, 
In  Muse's  Seats  affect  the  Muses  style. 
And  Fancy  feels  a  Heat  more  Juvenile. 
I  Often,  amus'd  with  Feats  in  Gardening, 

Delightful  Exercise,  I  work  and  Sing. 

These  feats  are  then  described,  after  which  it  appears  that 
"  at  one  view  "  there  may  be  seen  the  Myrtle,  Citron  and  other 
tropical  trees. 

Then  food  plants  are  described,  the  author  exclaiming. 

Assist  me,  therefore,  Goddess,  to  express 
Such  things  as  these  if  harsh,  with  easiness. 

Such  things  as  "  these  "  being  cabbages,  asparagus,  artichoke, 
beans,  etc.^^ 

A  passage  on  medicinal  herbs  follows,  possibly  inspired  by 
Rapin. 

"Op.  ciL,  p.  344.    See  above,  p.  53. 

"  For  ray  knowledge  of  the  contents  of  the  rare  and  valuable  edition  of 
1728,  I  am  indebted  to  my  friend  Mr.  Hyder  E.  Rollins,  who  kindly  read 
it  for  me  at  Harvard. 

"  One  wonders  whether  it  was  from  his  knowledge  of  the  georgic,  or  from 
his  ignorance  of  it,  that  Dr.  Johnson  made  his  caustic  comment  on  the 
theme  of  Grainger's  didactic:  '"What  could  he  make  of  a  sugar  cane?  One 
might  as  will  write.  The  Parsley-bed,  a  Poem,  or  The  Cabbage-garden,  a 
Poem."    Cf.  Life  by  Boswell,  ed.  Hill,  vol.  ii,  p.  520. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  83 

Herbs  Physical  of  divers  qualities, 
I  plant  and  in  good  order  Methodize, 

In  short  whatever  Malady  you  name 

That  Death  portends,  or  tortures  human  Frame, 

Whether  Catarrhs,  with  constant  flux  of  Rheum, 

Or  hectic  Heats,  that  inwardly  consume. 

If  Dropsy  Waters  to  th'  Abdomen  flow, 

Or  Stone  the  Back,  or  Gout  torments  the  Toe, 

Or  if  by  chance,  the  Veins  with  Poison  swell. 

Here  grow  those  Herbs,  that  all  these  griefs  repel. 

The  author  describes  the  mutual  confidences  established  be- 
tween himself  and  the  Bees,  gives  an  account  of  the  birds  that 
visit  his  garden,  and  thus  prefaces  his  conclusion: 

And  having  now  described  in  some  degree 
Perhaps  with  too  great  Partiality, 
A  rural  settlement  that  pleases  me; 
To  make  some  Recompense,  if  I  ofl^end, 
Would  tack  this  useful  Moral  to  the  End. 

A  moral  which  takes  up  five  pages.  Could  anything  be  more 
characteristic  of  the  spirit  of  the  eighteenth  century  ?  A  bad 
poet  offers  to  make  "  Recompense "  for  his  bad  poetry  by 
''  tacking  a  useful  moral  to  the  end." 

Vaniere  has  among  his  sixteen  georgics  one  on  the  kitchen 
garden,^"  five  hundred  and  ninety-four  lines,  given  chiefly  to 
precepts  on  the  subject.  Others  may  sing  of  gardens  redolent 
with  beautiful  flowers.  He  will  devote  himself  to  the  humbler 
but  more  useful  products  of  the  Kitchen  Garden,  once  meditated 
by  the  divine  Maro.  He  refers  to  Rapin,  who  bore  away  the 
"  first  honors  of  the  garden,"  but  he  does  not  mention  Alamanni 
nor  Columella.  He  has  a  few  lines  on  lilies  and  roses,  which 
flowers  have  also  their  "  sober  uses,"  but  in  the  main  he  fulfills 
his  promise.  With  the  exception  of  a  Cain  and  Abel  story 
without  the  tragic  ending,  and  a  mythological  episode,  he 
devotes  himself  almost  w^holly  to  the  culture  of  vegetables  dear 
to  the  French. 

"  Op.  cit.,  IX.  Olus. 


84  The  Georgic 

2.     William  Mason's  "  The   English   Garden "   and  Delille's 
"Jardins  " 

William  Mason's  poem,  The  English  Garden, "^^  marks  the 
beginning  of  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  didactics  on  garden- 
ing. Mason  has  nothing  to  say  of  cabbages  and  parsley  beds. 
Like  Rapin,  he  writes  for  the  rich,  but  he  scorns  precepts  such 
as  Eapin's ;  for  the  main  object  of  his  poem  is  to  overthrow  the 
rule  of  the  formal  garden,  to  encourage  the  newly  awakened 
taste  for  romantic  landscape  effects.  And  in  his  teaching,  he 
introduces  another  note,  new  to  the  didactic;  a  combination  of 
the  principles  of  painting  with  poetry,  the  address  to  great 
painters,  and  the  invocation  to  Painting. ^^ 

All  the  familiar  features  of  the  georgic  are  present  in  The 
English  Garden,  except  the  use  of  proverbial  sayings,  the 
description  of  country  pastimes,  and  the  description  of  weather 
signs.  Mason  has  also  passages  in  praise  of  the  advantages  of 
simple  country  life,"^  but  the  spirit  of  the  poem  is  not  the  spirit 
of  Vergil,  for  Mason  glorifies  not  the  power  of  labor,  but  the 
power  of  taste  combined  with  wealth,  and  his  one  picture  of 
cottage  life  ^^  is  marked  by  the  well-bred  Englishman's  patron- 
izing attitude  towards  the  simple  rustic;  it  has  the  sensible 
gentleman's  point  of  view,  entirely  lacking  Vergil's  deep  and 
understanding  sympathy  with  the  Italian  peasantry. 

The  poet  declares  that  he  does  not  court  popular  applause, 
but  writes  to  soothe  his  gi'ief  for  his  wife ;  ^^  however,  he  admits 

""The  English  Garden.  A  Poem  in  four  books.  To  which  are  added  a 
commentary  and  notes,  by  W.  Burgh.  The  Works  of  Wm.  Mason.  In  four 
volumes,  London,  1811,  Vol.  i,  p.  202  ff.  The  first  book  was  written  in  1772, 
the  last  in  1782.  Mason  is  best  known  as  the  friend  and  biographer  of  the 
poet  Gray.  At  Gray'is  suggestion  he  undertook  to  write  The  English 
Ga/rden.     Book  iv  begins  with  an  elegiac  address  to  Gray. 

"Op.  Courthope,  Hist,  of  Eng.  Poetry,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  London,  1910. 
vol.  VI,  p.  29. 

'"  The  Eng.  Qwrden,  459  ff.,  ii,  132-136. 

'^  The  Eng.  Qa/rden,  n,  406  ff. 

^The  Eng.  Garden,  i,  31  ff.  Twentieth  century  readers  may  think  that 
Mason  was  wise  not  to  have  counted  on  popular  applause,  but  Chalmers  in 
his  biographical  introduction  to  The  English  Garden,  Eng.  Poets,  vol.  viii, 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  85 

that  he  cannot  plead  the  ruggedness,  nor  the  unpopularity  of 
his  subject,  for  he  writes : 

With  such  a  theme  I  sing 
Secure  of  candid  audience." 

In  describing  fences,  however,  he  makes  the  characteristic 
georgic  complaint  of  the  difficulty  of  his  task,^'*  and  in  neo- 
classic  fashion  attempts  to  elevate  his  lowly  subject  by  absurd 
circumlocutions.^^  Exulting  in  the  proud  theme  of  forests,  he 
suddenly  cries: 

My  weak  tongue  feels 
Its  ineflfectual  powers,  and  seeks  in  vain 
That  force  of  ancient  phrase  which,  speaking,  paints, 
And  is  the  thing  it  sings.     Ah,  Virgil,  why 
By  thee  neglected  was  this  loveliest  theme. 


remarks  that  "  altho  the  usual  objections  to  didactic  poetry  are  undoubt- 
edly against  this  specimen,  yet  The  English  Garden  was  read  with  avidity 
and  approbation."  , 

"  The  Eng.  Garden,  ii,  34-35. 

»*  The  Eng.  Garden,  ii,  250-259. 

"Cp.  H.  A.  Beers:  A  Hist,  of  Eng.  Romam,ticism  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century,  N.  Y.,  H.  Holt  &  Co.,  pp.  123  ff.  Professor  Beers,  who  has  no 
patience  with  didactic  poets,  writes:  "The  influence  of  Thomson's  inflated 
diction  is  here  seen  at  its  worst.  The  whole  poem  is  an  object  lesson  on 
the  absurdity  of  didactic  poetry.  Especially  harrowing  are  the  author's 
struggles  to  be  poetic  while  describing  the  various  kinds  of  fences  designed 
to  keep  sheep  out  of  his  inclosures. 

Ingrateful  sure, 
When  such  the  theme,  becomes  the  poet's  task, 
Yet  must  he  try  by  modulation  meet 
Of  varied  cadence  and  selected  phrase. 
Exact  yet  free,  without  inflation  bold, 
To  dignify  that  theme. 

Accordingly  he  dignifies  his  theme  by  speaking  of  a  net  as  the  '  sportsman's 
hempen  toils,'  of  a  gun  as  the  '  fell  tube  ^^ 


Whose  iron  entrails  hide  the  sulphurous  blast,  >>  V"^©^^ 

Satanic  engine.'  ^       v' 

An  ice-house  becomes  a  conundrum,  yJ*^^^'^ 


a  structure  rude,  where  Winter  pounds 
In  conic  pit  his  congelations  hoar. 
That  Summer  may  his  tepid  beverage  cool 
With  the  chill  luxurv. 


86  The  Gsorgic 

Left  to  the  grating  voice  of  modern  reed? 

Why  not  array  it  in  the  splendid  robe 

Of  thy  rich  diction,  and  consign  the  charge 

To  Fame,  thy  hand-maid,  whose  immortal  plume 

Had  born  its  praise  beyond  the  bounds  of  Time." 

A  lament  due  not  to  modesty  alone. 

As  a  treatise  on  the  management  of  landscape  effect,  The 
English  Garden  is  in  general  sensible;  the  poet  shows  the 
artist's  appreciation  for  color  and  distance,  and  he  is  alive  to 
the  influence  of  fragrance,  as  well  as  of  color.  As  a  poem  it 
illustrates  many  of  the  worst  faults  of  the  age.  Yet  Nathan 
Drake  -'^  pronounces  it  the  most  finished  and  interesting  speci- 
men that  the  English  possess  in  the  mode  'of  the  georgic,-*^  and 
Courthope,  altho  he  gTants  Mason's  pedantry  and  want  of 
humor,  makes  the  following  comment :  ''  Warton's  praise  of 
The  English  Garden  as  a  composition  in  which  '  didactic  poetry 
is  brought  to  perfection  by  the  happy  combination  of  judicious 
precepts  with  the  most  elegant  ornaments  of  language  and 
imagery '  is  not  undeserved."  -^  Courthope,  unlike  Professor 
Beers,  is  sometimes  generous  and  always  just:  the  poem  is  not 
entirely  devoid  of  poetic  beauty,  but  its  main  interest  is  that 
it  begins  a  new  fashion  in  the  georgic,  and  that,  more  perhaps 
than  any  other  georgic,  it  represents  the  conflicting  ideas  of 
the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  poet  invokes 
Simplicity,  declaring  that  his  song  "  belongs  to  her  " ;  and  he 
belies  his  words  on  almost  every  page.  Simplicity,  he  an- 
nounces, is  his  guiding  deity ;  but  it  is  the  "  Muse  "  who  teaches 
how  to  make  paths  and  to  form  fences,  then  ''  mounts  to  sing 
of  forests."  "  Nature  "  and  "  Liberty,"  beloved  eighteenth- 
century  words,  recur  repeatedly ;  but  Nature  must  be  wedded  to 
Art,  and  Liberty  must  be  restrained.     Mason  unites  the  roman- 

*•  The  Eng.  Garden,  iii,  76-85. 

'''Literary  Hours,  London,  1820,  Vol.  ii,  pp.  113  ff. 

"Drake  is  almost  as  exaggerated  in  his  praise  of  the  English  Garden  as 
Ginguen^  in  praise  of  La  Colt.  However,  an  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Drake's 
sentimental  tale  of  Ma/ria  Arnold  would  prepare  one  for  the  critic's  enthu- 
siastic view. 

"  Op.  cit.,  VI,  p.  20. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  87 

tie  yearning  for  solitude  and  dim-lighted  glades  with  the  classic 
hatred  of  superstition,  the  romantic  love  of  monastic  ruins 
with  the  classic  scorn  of  inmates  of  monasteries.  His  most 
romantic  passages  illustrate  the  neo-classic  delight  in  moral- 
izing; and  his  final  episode  represents  chiefly  the  worst  strain 
of  romanticism,  the  "  graveyard  school's  tendency  to  revel  in 
the  luxury  of  grief."  ^^ 

The  introduction  to  this  episode, 

Precepts  tire,  and  this  fastidious  age 
Rejects  the  strain  didactic,  try  we  then 
In  livelier  narrative  the  truths  to  veil 
We  dare  not  dictate, 

reveals  the  poet's  weakness,  and  is,  perhaps,  the  most  ungrateful 
romai-k  ever  made  ahout  the  eighteenth  century,  for  surely  if 
any  age  ever  suttered  in  patience  ''  the  strain  didactic  "  that 
age  is  the  eighteenth  century. 

Mason  resigns  the  *'  Dorian  reed  "  to  youthful  bards ;  he  is 
hopeless  of  general  praise,  ''  well  repaid  if  they  of  classic  ear  " 
accept  his  song,  and  may  turn  the  art  he  sings  to  soothing  use 
in  the  ill-omened  hour 

When  Rapine  rides 
In  titled  triumph,  when  Corruption  waves 
Her  banner  broadly  in  the  face  of  day. 

He  ends  with  a  prayer  that  the  ''  long-lost  train  of  virtues  may 

**  Concerning  this  episode,  Mason  writes  to  Walpole,  Jan.  21,  1781,  The 
Correspondence  of  Horace  Walpole  and  the  Rev.  W.  Mason,  ed.  by  the 
Rev.  T.  Mitford,  London,  1851,  Vol.  ii,  pp.  135  ff.:  •' I  have  much  greater 
hopes  of  your  applause  on  my  fourth  book  of  the  English  Garden,  which 
is  now  almost  finished  .  .  .  ;  the  subject  you  know  is  that  of  Ornamental 
Buildings,  Menageries,  Conservatories,  etc.,  and  with  this  I  have  contrived 
to  interweave  a  pathetic  story  throughout,  so  that  the  whole  book  will  be 
(if  you  can  have  any  idea  from  the  term)  an  Episodico-didactico-politico- 
farrago,  unlike  everything  ever  was  written  or  will  be  written.  The 
improvers  will  like  it  for  its  taste,  the  ladies  for  its  tenderness;  opposition 
for  its  Americality ;  yet  of  this  last  it  has  no  more  than  was  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  fable,  and  that  so  gently  touched,  that  even  Bishops  will 
be  forced  to  applaud  it  for  its  humanity,  I  had  almost  said  Christianity. 
I  wish  it  was  possible  to  have  it  published  on  the  Fast  morning  on  this 
very  account."' 


88  The  Georgic 

return  to  save  Albion's  throne,  her  altars,  and  her  laureate 
bowers." 

Younger  English  bards,  Cowper,  and  William  Knight,  were 
to  take  up  the  Dorian  reed  with  more  or  less  success,  but  in  the 
meantime,  Delille  published  his  poem  Les  Jardins,^^  which  was 
inspired  by  the  prevailing  taste  for  the  newly-imported  fashion 
of  the  English  Garden. 

In  the  preface  to  the  revised  edition  of  1801,  Delille  observes 
that  his  poem  has  a  great  inconvenience,  that  of  being  a  didactic, 
a  species  necessarily  a  little  cold,  especially  to  a  nation  that, 
as  has  often  been  remarked,  can  scarcely  endure  anything  but 
verses  composed  for  the  theatres.  He  refers  to  Vergil's  sketch 
of  gardens,  and  to  Rapin's  work,  but  he  does  not  mention 
Columella  nor  Alamanni's  book  on  Gardens.  Of  Rapin  he 
writes :  "  Ce  que  le  poete  romain  regrettoit  de  ne  pouvoir  f aire 
le  poete  Rapin  I'a  execute.  II  a  ecrit  dans  la  langiie  et  quel- 
quefois  dans  le  style  de  Virgile,  un  poeme  en  quatre  chants,  sur 
les  jardins,  qui  eut  un  grand  succes  dans  un  temps  oil  on  lisoit 
encore  les  vers  latins  modemes.  Son  ouvrage  n'est  pas  sans 
elegance;  mais  on  y  desiroit  plus  de  precision,  et  des  episodes 
plus  heureux."  He  criticises  the  too  great  regularity  of  Rapin's 
plan,  and  writes  of  the  formal  gardens  described  by  the  older 
poet,  "  Par-tout  elle  regi'ette  la  beaute  un  pen  desordonnee,  et  la 
piquante  irregularite  de  la  I^ature.  .  .  .  Ses  jardins  sont  ceux 
de  I'architecte ;  les  autres  sont  ceux  du  philosophe,  du  peintre  et 
du  poete." 

Delille  disclaims  any  debt  to  Mason,  stating  that  Les  Jardins 
was  composed  long  before  he  read  The  English  Garden.  He 
makes  a  defense  of  the  "  genre  didactique,"  and  of  Les  Jardins, 
justifying  himself  against  those  who  accuse  him  of  having 
written  solely  for  the  rich ;  and  he  claims  finally  that  twenty 
editions  of  the  poem,  besides  nuincronrf  translations,  answer  the 
severest  critics. 

"Nouvelle  ed.  Considerablomcnt  Auomt'iit<^e,  Paris,  1801.  Besides  writ- 
ing JjCs  Jardins,  Delille  translated  VergiTs  Ocorgics,  and  wrote  L'llomme 
des  Champs,  ou  Les  Gcorgiques  Fraiii'aises.    See  alwve,  p.  45. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  89 

Delille's  poem,  like  The  English  Garden,  is  a  georgic  charac- 
teristic of  the  eighteenth  century.^^  Like  The  English  Garden 
it  is  a  treatise  ou  the  best  methods  of  securing  landscape  effects, 
and  like  Mason,  Delille  decries  the  old  formal  methods ;  but  the 
French  poet  makes  a  point  of  warning  against  extravagance, 
and  counsels  the  avoidance  of  excess. 

-Mason  has  an  interesting  passage  on  the  history  of  English 
gardens  in  which  he  quotes  a  description  of  the  Garden  of  Eden, 
and  names  Milton  as  "  great  N^ature's  herald,''  who  yet  vainly 
proclaimed  her  primeval  honors.^^    Delille  writes : 

Aimez  done  des  jardins  la  beauts  naturelle, 
Dieu  lui-meme  aux  mortels  en  traca  le  modMe, 

and  gives  an  account  of  Milton's  description  of  the  Garden  of 
Eden.3^ 

Mason  ends  his  second  book  with  the  episode  of  the  Sidonian 
Sage  ^^  who  gives  up  the  peace  of  his  retired  garden  to  accept 
the  burden  of  royalty.  Delille  ends  Chant  iv  with  the  same 
story,  introducing  another  character,  the  Sage's  son. 

Like  Mason,  Delille  associates  the  principles  of  painting  with 
the  principles  of  poetry,  and  advises  the  imitation  of  great 
landscape  painters.  Like  Mason,  he  has  the  romantic  love  of 
ruins,  but  he  does  not  make  ^lason's  mistake  of  commending 
the  building  of  ruins,  for  he  is  strongly  opposed  to  anything  in 
the  nature  of  pretense.  As  in  Mason,  familiar  eighteenth- 
century  phrases  occur  repeatedly,  "  imitate  l^ature,"  "  study 
variety,"  "  encourage  liberty  " ;  and  the  poet  expresses  the  early 

"  Delille  omits  the  constellation  device,  and  the  discussion  of  weather 
signs. 

"  The  Eng.  Garden,  i,  386  ff. 

**  Les  Jardins,  i,  715  ff.  Thomson  is  frequently  called  the  father  of 
English  landscape  gardening.  Delille  observes  in  a  note  that  manj'  Eng- 
lish claim  that  Milton's  description  of  Paradise,  and  some  passages  of 
Spenser,  gave  rise  to  the  fashion  of  landscape  gardens ;  hut  that  the  genre 
originated  with  the  Chinese.  He  prefers,  however,  the  authority  of  Milton, 
as  more  poetic. 

"  Abdalonimus.  The  fact  on  which  this  episode  is  founded  is  recorded 
by  Diodorus  Siculus,  Plutarch,  Justin  and  Q.  Curtius.  See  Mason,  op.  cit., 
n.  XVI,  p.  402. 


90  The  Georgic 

romantic  ideas  of  the  importance  of  the  individual,  the  love  of 
the  wild  and  solitary,  the  luxury  of  grief. 

Much  of  Delille's  advice  is  sensible.  His  style  is  clear  and 
brilliant,  but,  altho  the  gardens  of  which  he  sings  are  designed 
primarily  to  appeal  to  the  imagination,  his  poem  makes  no 
imaginative  appeal.  It  can,  however,  be  read  with  interest, 
because  it  mirrors  popular  fashions,  and  popular  ideas;  hence 
its  vogue  in  the  poet's  day. 

3.  Louts  de  Fontanes'  "liaison  Rusiique."  Its  relation  to 
Delille's  "  Jardins"  and  the  fashion  of  the  English 
landscape  garden. 

Louis  de  Fontanes'  ^^  georgic.  La  Maison  Rustique,  may  be 
regarded  in  Sainte-Beuve's  phrase,  as  ''  un  sous-amendement 
respectueux  du  poeme  des  Jardins.'''' 

In  1788  de  Fontanes  published  Le  Verger,  with  a  preface  in 

which  he  states  that  Delille,  citing  Vergil  as  an  example  to 

follow,  neglects  useful  gardens,  altho  the  garden  of  Vergil  is 

'  un  potager.'  ^"^    "  Je  n'ai  sans  doute  reuipli  le  plan  de  Virgile,'' 

continues  de  Fontanes,  ''  mais  j'ai  cherche  de  le  suivre.     Au 

lieu  des  pares  de  Watheley  et  de  le  Xotre,  j'ai  voulu  tracer 

simplement, 

Le  jardin  du  berger,  du  po^te,  et  du  sage." 

An  interesting  criticism  of  Delille  follows:  ''  Ces  observations 
ne  tendent  point  a  diminuer  I'admiration  qu'on  doit  au  grand 
et  rare  talent  de  M.  I'abbe  Delille.  Le  defaut  principal  est  bien 
couvert  par  la  foule  de  beautes  ]X)etiques  qu'il  a  semees  dans  son 
ouvrage;  les  vers  frangais  n'ont  jamais  eu  plus  d'c'clat,  plus 
d'harmonie  et  de  variete  dans  le  rhythme.  En  un  mot,  puisque 
le  style  fait  le  poete,  M.  I'Abbe  Delille  Test  au  plus  haut  degre.' ' 
De  Fontanes  stands  declared  against  the  English  garden,  and 
against  what  he  considers  false  attempts  to  imitate  Nature.    He 

*•  (Euvres.  Pr^e^d^s  d'une  lettre  de  M.  de  Chateaubriand.  Avec  une 
notice  biograiphique  par  M.  Roger,  et  une  autre  par  M.  Sainte-Beuve. 
Paris,  1859.     La  Maison  Rusiique,  Vol.  i,  pp.   187  fF. 

"  Cp.  the  opening  lines  of  VaniiTe's  Olus. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  91 

undertakes  liis  task  well  prepared  by  the  study  of  many  treat- 
ises on  gardens,  among  them  those  of  Chambers,  Whateley, 
Morel  and  Hirschfeld.  The  last-named,  he  remarks  in  the 
preface  to  the  ''  Verger,"  pretends  that  France  has  no  inter- 
esting views;  because  of  this  absurd  pretense  the  beauties  of 
French  vistas  are  emphasized. 

La  Maison  Rustique  is  merely  ''  I'ancien  Verger  refondu." 
It  is  written  in  three  books,  "  Le  Potager,"  "  Le  Verger  "  *^ 
and  "  Le  Pare."  De  Fontanes  makes  use  of  all  the  georgic 
devices  except  proverbial  sayings.  He  advises  even  the  study 
of  favorable  and  unfavorable  days,  the  learning  of  the  regular 
signs  of  the  heavens,  and  the  marking  of  time  by  the  constella- 
tions. The  horrors  of  war  are  dwelt  upon,  but  de  Fontanes 
being  optimistic,  finds  that  good  comes  even  from  war,  and  while 
he  remarks  on  the  truth  that  all  things  must  die,  he  does  not 
linger  on  the  dreary  thought  of  the  quick  passing  of  the  best  in 
human  life,  but  emphasizes  the  idea  that  all  things  are  reborn 
and  that  life  contiiijies  immortal  thru  one's  descendants :  ^^ 

Ces  fr^les  nourrissons  entre  des  mains  habiles 
Croissent  pour  remplacer  leurs  ancetres  debiles. 
Tout  meurt,  mais  tout  renalt;  et  ce  tronc  pr#cieux 
Que  jadis  a  plante  la  main  de  vos  aieux; 
Et  que  plus  d'une  fois  en  bravant  leur  defense, 
Dans  ses  jeux  indiscrets  outrage  a  votre  enfance, 
Ce  tronc,  que  ses  bienfaits  ont  longtemps  embelli, 
Par  ses  dons  6puise,  comme  nous  a  vieilli; 
II  tombe,  et  cMe  enfin  son  empire  i1  I'arbuste. 
Tel,  sous  le  poids  des  ans  penchant  sa  tete  auguste, 
Un  vieillard  vcrtueux  regrette  moins  le  jour 
S'il  laisse  apr&s  sa  mort  un  fils  de  son  amour, 
Son  fils  reproduira  ses  mcBurs  et  son  image.'"' 

The  last  book  ends  with  an  interesting  tribute  to  "  La  Muse 
georgique,"  in  whose  defense  the  poet  tells  the  story  of  the 
contest  in  which  Ilesiod  is  given  the  palm  over  Homer. 

™  Pontano's  De  Horlis  Hcsperidum  and  John  Philips'  Cyder  might  be 
discussed  in  connection  with  "  Le  Verger,"  but  since  Philips'  work  treats 
of  the  culture  of  the  apple  and  Pontano's  of  the  culture  of  the  citron,  they 
do  not  belong  in  the  history  of  the  didactic  on  gardens. 

™Cp.  La  Colt.,  I,  340  ff.    Kee  above,  p.  62. 

**  La  Maison    Rust.,  Chant  li. 


92  The  Gsorgic 

In  "  Le  Potager,"  de  Fontanes  makes  no  reference  to  the 
efforts  of  Columella,  Alamanni,  Vaniere,  and  John  Lawrence. 
His  purpose,  apparently,  is  to  rebuke  the  pride  of  the  Muse  of 
poets  like  Mason  and  Delille,  for  after  having  sung  the  charm 
of  the  kitchen  garden,  ornamented  without  expense,  cultivated 
from  seeds,  herbs,  and  roots  brought  from  neighboring  gardens, 
he  exclaims, 

Longtemps  I'orgueil  du  vers  a  craint  de  les  nommer, 
Aujourd'hui  je  les  chante  et  je  veux  les  semer. 

He  dignifies  the  theme  of  humble  garden  plants  with  consider- 
able skill,  making  a  pleasant  picture  of  the  bees  among  the 
th;}Tne : 

L'ail  s'annonce  de  loin;  pardonne,  aimable  Horace, 

Thesitilis  aux  bras  nus,  sans  craindre  ta  menace, 

Exprime  en  le  broyant  de  piquantes  saveurs, 

Pui  raniment  le  gout  et  la  soif  des  buveurs, 

Et  le  thym  qu'en  leur  vol  les  abeilles  moissonnent 

Le  cresson  qui  des  eaux  recherche  les  courants, 

Et  I'ache  et  le  carfeuil  aux  esprits  odorants. 

The  poet  follows  his  precepts  for  the  sowing  of  vegetable 
seeds  by  a  defense  of  his  theme.  The  potager  is  less  brilliant 
in  effect  than  the  parterre,  but  it  lasts  longer.  Zephyr  loves  it ; 
Flora  cultivates  it :  the  opening  chalices  drink  the  morning  dews. 
The  cabbage,  whose  name  causes  the  Muse  to  blush,  forgets  this 
scorn,  and  enriches  the  winter  with  its  tribute  always  green.^^ 

Finally,  philosophizing,  the  poet  observes  that  altho  humble 

products  may  be  despised,  they  have  nevertheless  changed  the 

course  of  destiny. 

Souvent  un  v^g^tal  trouv^  dans  les  deserts, 
Un  arbuste,  un  seul  fruit,  peut  changer  I'univers. 

Triptolemus,  sowing  grain,  brought  alxuit  civilization ;  the 
Gauls  were  called  to  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  by  the  vino,  and  so 
on,  with  various  illustrations  to  prove  his  jioint. 

"The  potato  is  not  named,  but  is  referred  to  as  a  vegetable  more  useful 
than  the  cabbage,  a  product  to  which  much  homage  is  duo.  since  often  it 
makes  up  for  the  denial  of  Ceres. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  93 

The  potager's  possible  beauties  are  not  neglected.  The  poet 
aims  to  bring  out  the  point  that  in  the  kitchen  garden  everything 
is  of  use  for  pleasure,  for  nourishment,  or  for  health.  The 
proud  ^'  Mondor,"  contemptuous  of  "  le  potager,"  rich  by 
''  gains  honteux,"  desires  the  tranquility  of  country  life.  He 
will  "  make  "  an  English  park,  with  newly-placed  ruins,  every- 
thing showy,  expensive,  bizarre.  Mondor  wastes  his  substance, 
gets  into  debt,  the  bailiff  comes,  and  ruin  follows.**^  Sensible 
afterdwellers  sow  lettuces  on  the  unhappy  site. 

In  "  Le  Verger,"  de  Fontanes  pays  a  tribute  to  Delille's 
verse,  altho  he  condemns  his  teachings,  vain  lectures  on  "  simple 
negligence,"  simplicity  which  is  only  ^'  un  luxe  de  plus."  The 
gifts  of  the  cherry  tree,  the  briar,  etc.,  declares  de  Fontanes, 
are  worth  more  than  all  useless  ornaments  of  the  pompous 
catalpa,  the  varnish  trees  of  China  transplanted  to  France  at 
great  cost.  And  in  ''  Le  Pare,"  the  poet  makes  a  final  plea 
for  the  restoration  of  the  formal  garden,  and  the  condemned 
labyrinth. 

De  Fontanes  does  not  neglect  the  solidity  of  his  agricultural 
precepts.  His  "  Orchard,"  in  this  respect,  might  bear  com- 
parison with  Philips'  Cyder^^  The  French  poet's  mind  is  of 
a  moralizing  and  scientific  trend,  and  in  certain  passages  he 
shows  a  kinship  to  Erasmus  Darwin.  The  especial  interest  of 
his  poem  is  its  relation  to  other  garden  georgics,  and  to  the 
eighteenth-century  quarrel  over  regularity  and  form,  opposed  to 
the  wild  variety  of  Nature,  one  of  the  familiar  phases  in  the 
early  quarrels  between  classicists  and  romanticists. 

Socially,  de  Fontanes  is  not  revolutionary  in  his  ideas,  altho 
he  makes  so  strong  a  protest  for  simplicity  as  opposed  to  the 
bizarre  and  the  extravagant.  He  has  the  aristocrat's  contempt 
for  the  showy  splendors  of  the  new-rich ;  but  inequality,  he 
declares,  cannot  be  banished  from  the  freest  state.     If  fortune 

^  Cp-  tlie  stories  told  of  similar  visitors  said  to  have  haunted  Shenstone's 
Leasowes  as  a  result  of  that  poet's  rash  expenditure. 

*'The  lines  on  cider  and  wines,  the  account  of  the  Scarecrow,  suggest 
the  influence  of  Philips. 


94:  The  Georgic 

or  the  favor  of  Kings  has  been  granted  yon,  surround  your 
retreat  with  greater  splendor:  humble,  lowly  gardens  for  the 
lowly,  majestic  parks  for  the  great. 

4.     Coiuper's  georgic   on   the   "Garden";    William   Knight's 
didactic  poem,  "  The  Landscape." 

The  third  book  of  Cowper's  Task-  is  a  georgic  on  ''  the 
Garden,"  emphasizing  the  advantages  of  rural  happiness  and 
innocence,  in  contrast  to  the  corruptions  of  city  life.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  poem  consist  of  moralizations,  and  satirical  reflec- 
tions on  the  vanities  of  man;  a  particular  outcry  being  made 
against  the  debaucheries  and  the  luxury  of  the  metropolis. 

Many  eighteenth-century  motives  culminate  in  Cowper,  but 
they  are  motives  colored  always  by  the  poet's  personality  or  by 
his  religious  belief.  The  power  of  Philosophy  and  of  Science 
is  exalted,  but  with  Cowper  Philosophy  and  Science  must  be 
accompanied  by  divine  illumination  and  faith  in  prayer.  A 
protest  is  made  against  the  cruelty  of  the  chase,  but  the  poet  is 
comforting  himself  by  the  thought  that  at  least  his  tame  hare 
is  safe. 

In  his  garden  Xature  appears  "  in  her  cultivated  trim.''     It 

is  a  garden  in  which  a  country  gentleman  sows  and  prunes  and 

frames  industriously.    One  hears  the  old  note  of  triumph,  pride 

in  a  new  theme. 

To  raise  the  prickly  and  green-coated  gourd, 

an  art 
That  toiling  ages  have  but  just  matured, 
And  at  this  moment  unassayed  in  song. 

The  *' prickly  and  green-coated  gourd"  is  the  cucinnbiM.^^ 
Cowper  himself  tells  the  reader  so,  and  gives  detailed  instruc- 
tions for  the  growing  of  this  delicacy  in  the  hot-bed,  and  a  feeling 
account  of  the  "ten  thousand  dangers"  that  "lie  iii  wait  to 
thwart  the  process," 

Heat  and  cold,  and  wind,  and  steam, 
Moisture  and  drought,  mice,  worms  and  swarming  flies. 


**  The  Task,  iir,  446  ff. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  95 

But,  '*  it  were  loug-,  too  long,"  to  tell  them  all. 

The  learn'd  and  wise 
Sarcastic  would  exclaim,  and  judge  the  song 
Cold  as  its  theme,  and  like  its  theme,  the  fruit 
Of  too  much  labor,  worthless  when  produced." 

Xot  having  Mason's  scorn  of  foreign  plants,  Cowper  gives  an 
account  of  the  gTeen-house,  and  of  the  exotic  blooms  that  flourish 
there  while  the  wind  whistles  outside;  and  he  has  some  precepts 
on  the  proper  arrangement  of  flowers,  practical  to  some  extent, 
but  of  no  help  to  a  novice  at  gardening. 

The  rest  of  the  poem  is  a  discourse  against  the  foolish  and 
wicked  luxuries  of  the  day.  In  satirizing  the  follies  of  the  new 
fashion  of  landscape  gardening,  the  poet  makes  an  attack  on 
the  landscape  methods  of  the  famous  Brown;  methods  that 
require  a  fortune  for  the  following.  The  joy  of  the  "  enrap- 
tiu'ed  owner  "  of  the  new  English  garden  is  pictured  ending  in 
bankruptcy.  But^the  estate,  unlike  that  of  de  Fontane's  proud 
Mondor,  is  not  to  be  sown  with  lettuces.     The  owner 

•  Drained  to  the  last  poor  item  of  his  wealth 
.  .  .  sighs,  departs,  and  leaves  the  accomplished  plan 

Just  when  it  meets  his  hopes,  and  proves  the  Heaven 
He  wanted,  for  a  wealthier  to  enjoy/" 

The  methods  of  Brown  are  attacked  at  much  gTeater  length 
in  a  didactic  entitled  The  Landscape,  written  in  1794  by  Wil- 
liam Payne  Knight.'*'^  Knight,  however,  appears  to  have  been 
concerned  not  with  the  ruin  of  the  owner  of  the  estate,  but  with 
the  ruin  of  the  estate. 

The  author's  advertisement  to  the  second  edition  of  his  poem 
suggests  that  he  has  passed  thru  troubled  times  since  its  first 
appearance.'*^     With   some  warmth   against  his  assailants  he 

"  The  Task,  Bk.  in.  562. 
•■  The  Task,  ni,  784  fT. 
"In  3  bks.     2nd  ed.  London,  1795. 

**For  a  venomous  spurt  against  Knight  see  Horace  Walpolc's  letters  to 
Mason,  March  22,  1796,  op.  cit..  Vol.  ii,  p.  369. 


96  The  Georgic 

defends  liimself,  stating  that  he  is  concerned  merely  to  ascertain 
and  to  extend  good  taste.  "  As  to  what  has  been  asserted  of  his 
preferring  the  opposite  extremes  of  a  Siberian  desert  and  a 
Dutchman's  garden  to  the  grounds  of  Blenheim  and  Stowe  and 
Burleigh,"  he  decJares,  "  it  is  a  misrepresentation  so  monstrous 
as  to  need  no  reply."  One  insinuation,  however,  cannot  pass 
unnoticed.  Mr.  Mason's  English  Garden  is  said  to  have  been 
pillaged  to  decorate  the  Landscape,  without  any  acknowledg- 
ment having  been  made  for  the  flowers  stolen ;  "  but  the  author 
of  the  latter  has  not  read  the  former,  nor  did  he  at  the  time  of 
writing  recollect  its  existence,  tho  he  now  remembers  to  have 
heard  it  spoken  of  some  years  before  with  that  commendation 
which  is  due  to  every  product  of  the  chaste  and  classical  Mr. 
Mason ;  but  the  candid  reader  must  not  think  that  he  makes 
this  confession  thru  any  affected  or  fastidious  refinement ;  on 
the  contrary,  he  considers  it  as  an  instance  of  culpable  negli- 
gence, showing  that  he  has  devoted  himself  to  the  ancients  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  moderns." 

He  scornfully  comments  on  a  sort  of  doggerel  ode,  "  The 
Sketch  from  the  Landscape,"  written  in  ridicule  of  his  poem. 
He  notices  this  doggerel  only  to  assure  the  author  that  his 
apprehensions  of  giving  any  serious  offense  in  such  a  perform- 
ance are  wholly  groundless,  and  he  scornfully  quotes  a  specimen 
of  his  adversary's  wit,  after  which  he  remarks  naively  that  he 
thinks  it  may  be  allowable,  without  incurring  the  imputation 
of  arrogance  or  vanity,  to  add  a  specimen  in  a  very  different 
style  of  a  friend's  paneg}'ric,  which,  as  it  contains  not  only  an 
approbation,  but  a  very  happy  illustration  of  the  system  of 
improvements  here  recommended,  may  be  considered  a  part  of 
the  present  work,  the  whole  of  which,  he  modestly  adds,  the 
reader  will  probably  wish,  had  been  executed  by  the  same 
masterly  hand.^® 

Mr.  Knight's  poem,  read  as  a  poem,  is  very  dull.     In  the 

*"The  panegyric,  by  Edward  Winnington  is  duly  flattering,  sounding 
enthusiastically  the  favorite  eighteenth  century  notes.  Liberty  and  Nature, 
"  kindred  powers." 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  97 

history  of  the  georgic  it  is  of  some  interest.  It  is  clearly  an 
imitation  of  Vergil,  altho  neither  in  spirit  nor  in  form  is  it 
tnih'  georgic.  Altho  the  poet  claims  to  have  neglected  the 
moderns  for  the  ancients,  his  verse  shows  the  influence  of  Pope 
and  Thomson. 

The  Landscape  is  written  in  closed  couplets  that  treat  rather 
of  aesthetic  than  of  practical  ideas.  The  poet  bids  you  follow 
Xature  and  avoid  deformity.  A  passionate  outburst  protests 
against  the 

Pedant  jargon  that  defines 

Beauty's   unbounded   forms  to  given   lines, 

and  against  the  man  ''  who  dares  not  judge  without  consulting 
rules." 

Like  Mason  and  Delille,  Knight  alludes  to  famous  painters 
as  guides  in  the  treatment  of  landscape,  and,  like  Mason,  pays 
tribute  to  the  power  of  Art.  Mason  advises  the  use  of  every 
means  by  which  to  break  the  eifect  of  straight  lines,  and  he 
advises  the  cultivation  of  the  natural  curve;  Knight  objects  to 
the  over  use  of  the  "  pointed  line,"  but  still  more  to 

The  path  that  moves  by  even  serpentine, 
and  he  attacks  Brown,  who 

First  taught  the  walk  in  even  spires  to  move, 
And  from  their  haunts  the  secret  Dryads  drove. 

Thinking  of  Vergil's  lines, 


rura  mihi  et  rigui  placeant  in  vallibus  amnes, 
flumina  amem  silvasque   inglorius." 


the  poet  cries. 


Hence,  proud  ambition's  vain  delusive  joys! 
Hence,  worldly  wisdom's  solemn  empty  toys! 
Let  others  seek  the  senate's  loud  applause, 
And  glorious,  triumph  in  their  country's  cause! 
Let  others,  bravely  prodigal  of  breath 
Go  grasp  at  honor  in  the  jaws  of  death: 
Their  toils  may  everlasting  glories   crown, 


'^Georg.  ii,  485-6. 
7 


98  The  Georgic 

And  Heaven  record  their  virtues  with  its  own! 
Let  me,  retired  from  business,  toil  and  strife, 
Close  amidst  books  and  solitude  my  life.^^ 

Curious  lilies,  imitating  Vergil's  words,  Vergil's  idea  of  vain 
ambitions  and  delusive  joys,"-  yet  omitting  the  heart  of  Vergil's 
teaching,  since  the  poet  will  flee  not  only  from  ambition  but  also 
from  toil. 

A  passage  follows  depicting  the  poet's  romantic  delight  in 
nature;  shaded  caverns,  thickening  glooms,  sunset  and  the 
nightingale's  song.    He  hits  at  the  pastoral  poet's  strains, 

Where  lovesick  shepherds,  sillier  than  their  sheep, 
In  lovesick  numbers,  full  as  silly,  weep; 

inveighs  against  a  monkish  life,  and  concludes  his  first  book 
with  a  passage  on  the  value  of  reason. 

The  second  book  gives  advice  for  the  securing  of  landscape 
effects  of  light  and  shade.  He  warns  against  formal  traces  of 
art,  the  affectation  of  Chinese  customs,  and  the  imitation  of 
ruins.    He  laments  the  passing  of  old  days, 

When  art  to  Nature  true. 
No  tricks  of  dress,  or  whims  of  fashion  knew, 

when  good  taste  was  found  among  the  lowest,  as  among  the 
highest.  He  moralizes  in  phrases  reminiscent  of  Lucretius  on 
the  vain  pomp  of  wealth,  but  is  thankful  for  the  consoling 
powers  of  art  to  raise  man  in  his  o^vn  estimation,  and  concludes 
with  a  georgic  passage  on  the  little  annoyances  of  life,  and 

all  the  little  ills  that  rise 
From  idleness,  whicli  its  own  langfuor  flies. 

The  third  book  treats  of  the  proper  sites  for  trees  and  flowers. 
The  poet  rails  against  "  the  shrubberies'  insipid  green  "  and 
other  barbarisms  of  modern  taste ;  contrasts  British  woods  with 
foreign  growths,  and  enumerates  Britain's  blessings."'''^ 

"  The  Landscape,  Bk.  i,  ;J09  fT. 
"  Oeorg.  II,  495  ff. 

"The  following  highly  poetical  lines  show  a  few  of  the  ills  from  which 
the  Briton  is  free: 


Didactic  Poems  on  Gardens  99 

The  theme  of  foreign  contrast  is  developed  with  generous 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  altho  Britain  is  so  far  superior  to 
other  countries,  each  has  some  good,  since 

Xo  state  or  clime's  so  bad  but  that  the  mind 
Formed  to  enjoy  content,  content  will  find. 

^loralizing  on  how  few  have  power  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of 
freedom,  the  poet  draws  a  picture  of  revolutionary  France, 
s\Tnpathizing  with  the  sufferings  of  the  king  and  queen.  But, 
like  de  Fontanes,  he  concludes  optimistically  with  a  hope  that 
from  these  horrors  future  times  may  see 

Just  order  spring  and  genuine  liberty. 


May  hence  ambition's  wasteful  folly  cease, 
And  cultivate  the  happy  arts  of  peace. 


The  conflict  between  the  ideas  of  the  classicists  and  the  early 
romanticists  can  be  seen  in  Knight,  as  in  Mason,  and  The  Land- 
scape is  of  value  because  it  is  so  essentially  a  part  of  its  age. 

The  history  of  garden  didactics  is  in  some  respects  the  most 
interesting  chapter  in  a  study  of  the  georgic,  particularly  of  the 
eighteenth-century  georgic.  The  intercrossing  of  ideas,  the  play 
of  criticism,  the  presentation  of  popular  fashions,  make  these 
poems  an  important  group  when  studied  in  relation  to  one 
another. 

But  from  Columella  to  Knight, '"^^  not  one  poet  in  the  group 
has  fulfilled  the  promise  of  his  subject.  The  garden  is  an 
alluring  theme.  English  poets  from  Chaucer  onward,  have 
loved  to  dwell  upon  it,  and  even  before  Chaucer  the  writer  of 
the  Phoenix  broke  away  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  traditions  of 


No  poisonous  reptiles  o'er  his  pillow  creep, 
Nor  buzzing  insects  interrupt  his  sleep. 
Secure  at  noon  he  snores  beneath  the  brake. 

— The  Landscape,  iir,  265-267. 

"Mrs.  Cecil,  in  her  bibliography,  op.  cit.,  p.  370,  cites  a  poem  called 
The  Plants,  by  Wm.  Tighe,  Cantos  3  and  4:  The  Vine  and  the  Palm, 
London,  1811.  Cantos  1  and  2  were  published  earlier  and  not  reprinted. 
Whether  or  not,  this  work  i?  a  didactic  on  the  garden,  I  can  not  say. 


100  The  Georgic 

battle  and  gloom  to  sing  of  a  land  of  perpetual  fruit  and  flowers. 
Bacon  is  more  delightfully  human  in  his  Essay  on  Gardens  than 
in  anything  he  ever  wrote,  and  some  of  the  loveliest  lines  in 
English  poetry  are  of  gardens  and  of  flowers.  But  in  all  the 
georgics  on  Gardens,  there  is  not  a  passage  that  appeals  irre- 
sistibly to  the  imagination  or  that  lingers  hauntingly  in  the 
memory.  The  way  of  the  didactic  poet  is  hard,  but  it  is  not 
impossible.  The  reading  of  every  Vergilian  imitation  on  gar- 
dens only  serves  to  deepen  the  regret  that  Vergil  neglected  this 
"  loveliest  of  themes." 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sjjorts  101 


CHAPTER  VI 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports 

Suggesting  profitable  occupations  for  the  husbandman  in 
winter  weather,  Vergil  writes, 

turn  gruibus  pedicas  et  retia  poneie  cervis, 
auritosque  sequi  lepores :  turn  figere  dammas 
stuppea  torquentem  Balearis  verbera  fundae, 
cum  nix  alta  iacet.  glaciem  cum  flumina  trudiint;  * 

he  imagines  the  joyous  clamour  of  the  hunters,  and  the  hounds, 
and  the  echoing  groves, 

vocat  ingenti  clamore  Citliaeron 
Taygetique    canes  domitrixque  Epidaurus  equorum 
et  vox  adsensu  nemorum  ingeminata  remugit;  ^ 

and  remembering  the  practical  value  of  the  dog,  he  advises  the 
husbandman, 

nee  tibi  cura  canum  fuerit  postrema,  sed  una 
veloces  Spartae  catulos  acremque  Molossum 
pasce  sero  pingui.  numquam  custodibus  illis 
nocturnum  stabulis  furem  incursusque  luporum 
aut  inpacatos  a  tergo  horrebis  Hiberos. 
saepe  etiam  cursu  timidos  agitabis  onagros, 
et  oanibus  leporem,  canibus  venabere  dammas; 
saepe  volutabris  pulsos  silvestribus  apros 
latratu  turbabis  agens  montesque  per  altos 
ingentem  clamore  premes  ad  retia  cervum.' 

It  has  been  remarked  that  among  the  developments  of  the 
pastoral  there  is  found  a  "  venatorv  "  variety  of  the  eclogue  in 
which  hunters  speak  instead  of  shepherds.^  In  the  Georgics 
Vergil  himself  has  left  in  embryo  the  didactic  on  Rural  Sports. 
The  context  of  the  first  passage  cited,  remarks  Page,^  shows 
that  the  poet  had  in  mind  the  needs  of  the  winter  larder;  and 

'  Georg.  i,  307-310.  '  Qeorg.  iii,  404-414. 

*  Georg.  iii,  43-45.  *  See  above,  p.  40. 

^  Op.  cit.,  p.  221. 


102  The  Georgic 

Sallust  classes  hunting  and  Hsbing  among  servile  agTicultural 
employments.^  In  Thomson's  Seasons,  and  in  other  imitations 
of  the  Georgics,  accounts  of  hunting  are  given  as  illustrations 
of  country  pastimes ;  and  in  general,  poetical  treatises  on  hunt- 
ing and  on  fishing  represent  these  occupations  as  the  diversions 
of  the  wealthy,  not  as  a  means  of  gaining  a  livelihood,  or  of 
filling  the  larder.  In  these  treatises,  however,  the  plan  of  the 
Georgics  is  almost  always  followed  to  a  certain  extent ;  and  if 
the  teaching  of  the  necessity  of  constant  labor  is  not  enforced 
in  the  didactic  poem  on  field  sports,  at  least  the  praises  of 
country  life  are  not  neglected. 

Poems  on  field  sports  may  be  divided  into  two  large  general 
classes : 

I.    Of  Hunting,  represented  by  the  cynegetics  ^  and  the  ixeu- 
tics  ^  of  the  ancients,  which  treat,  at  least  in  part,  of 
hunting  with  dogs,  and  of  snaring  birds. 
II.    Of  Fishing,  the  halieutic  "  of  the  ancients. 

The  cynegetic,  the  ixeutic,  and  the  halieutic  are  all  illus- 
trated in  the  works  ascribed  to  Oppian  of  Cilieia;  and  in  two 
of  these  poems,  the  Cynegetica  and  the  HaUeuUca,  there  are 
found  comparisons  of  the  three  modes  of  the  chase,  the  terres- 
trial, the  aerial,  and  the  marine. 

I.    Of  Hunting 

1.    Gratius,  Oppian,  and  Nemesianus 

Gratius  Faliscus,^^  Vergil's  contemporary,  is,  as  far  as  I 
know,  the  first  poet  who  attempted  to  develop  the  Mantuan's 
suggestions  for  a  treatise  on  the  Chase.    Of  his  Carmen  Ycnnt'i- 

'  See   W.   Drummond's   essay   on    "  The   Life   and   Writings   of   Oppian," 
pp.  19-20.     The  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Irish  Arademi/,  vol.  Xiil. 
'  Kvvr]yeTiK6s,  pertaining  to  the  chase  ;  kijuv,  dojj;,   vy^rrii,  leader. 
"t'^ij,   bird  lime,  i^evrris,  a  fowler,  hird-catcher. 
*  dXt£i;Ti)c6s,  a  tisher. 
"  Cp.  above,  p.  40. 


Diddclic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  103 

cu)ii  "  only  live  hundred  and  thirty-six  intelligible  lines  have 
been  preserved. ^- 

Ovid  names  Gratins  with  Vergil, 

Tityrus  antiquas  et  erat  qui  pasceret  herbas; 
Aptaqiie  venanti  Gratius  arma  daret;  " 

but  in  the  common  judgment  of  able  critics,  the  latter  poet  is 
very  far  removed  in  genius  and  in  style  from  his  great  con- 
temporary. 

Like  Vergil,  Gratius  begins  his  poem  by  formally  announcing 
the  subject,  and  continues  immediately  with  the  stock  invoca- 
tion, addressing  Diana,  goddess  of  hunting.  The  first  one 
hundred  and  fifty  lines  of  the  poem  treat  chiefly  of  the  various 
modes  of  the  chase ;  but  the  subject  is  relieved  by  brief  digres- 
sions, as,  for  example,  an  account  of  the  dangers  of  the  woods 
before  the  arts  of  hunting  were  discovered.  Very  appropriately, 
the  poet  introduces  an  allusion  to  the  grief  of  Venus  over  the 
wounded  Adonis;  in  an  account  of  the  best  flax  (linum)  to  be 
used  in  making  twine  for  nets,  the  poet  introduces  references 
to  the  products  of  foreign  lands ;  in  a  discussion  on  hunting 
with  nets,  he  eulogizes  the  old  Arcadius,  supposed  to  have 
invented  this  mode  of  capturing  animals.  A  passage  on  the 
wood  best  for  spears  suggests  the  following  lines  from  the  second 
Georgic  (447-448), 

at  myrtus  validis  hastilibus  et  bona  bello 
cornus;  Itiiraeos  taxi  torquentur  in  arcue. 

In  the  manner  of  Vergil  on  cattle,  Gratius  treats  of  dogs. 
Various  lands  are  mentioned  famed  for  breeds  of  dogs ;  dogs 
best  adapted  for  the  chase  are  discussed  in  detail,  their  appear- 
ance, their  diseases  and  the  cures  of  their  diseases.  A  digi-ession 
is  introduced  on  the  evils  of  luxury,  one  of  the  few  passages 

"  Ed.  hy  R.  Stern,  Halle,  Saxony,  1832. 

"  In  an  eleventh  e.  Vienna  M.S.,  fraj^ments  of  five  lines  follow  1.  536,  but 
they  are  not  enough  to  complete  the  poem.  See  Teuffel,  Hist,  of  Rom.  Lit., 
tr.  by  W.  Wagner.  London,  1873,  Vol.  i,  p.  487. 

«  £a;  Ponto,  IV.  16,  33-34. 


104  ■  The  Georgic 

in  which,  according  to  Teiiffel's  ^^  judgment,  the  author  rises 
somewhat  higher  than  his  usual  dry  and  heavy  style.  Gratius 
describes  the  effect  of  luxury  on  both  man  and  beast,  enforcing 
his  morals,  in  georgic  fashion,  by  allusions  to  famous  historical 
examples  of  the  degeneracy  and  downfall  resulting  from  luxury. 
Greece,  says  the  poet,  madly  followed  foreign  guilt : 

At  qualis  nostris,  quam  simplex  mensa  Camillis! 
Qui  tibi  cultus  erat  post  tot,  Serrane,  triumphos? 
Ergo  1111  ex  liabitu  virtutisque  indole  priscse 
Imposuere  orbi  Komam  caput:  actaque  ab  illis 
Ad  coelum  virtus  summosque  tetendit  lionores." 

The  passage  suggests  a  continuation  of  the  second  Georgic,  lines 
532-535. 

In  another  digression,  lines  430-466,  Gratius  describes  a  lake 
of  living  oil,  where  marvellous  cures  are  wrought  on  diseased 
cattle,  and  the  topic  of  the  diseases  of  dogs  is  again  discussed. 
Then,  in  the  Vergilian  spirit,  the  poet  dwells  upon  the  necessity 
of  asking  aid  from  Olympus,  and  describes  Diana's  festival.^^ 

Various  breeds  of  horses  are  discussed,  and  lands  are  named 
famous  for  the  noblest  steeds.    The  lines, 

0  quantum  Italiae,  sic  dii  voluere,  parentes 
Praestant,  et  terras  omni  praecepimus  usu; 
Nostraque  non  segnis  illustrat  prata  iuventus. 

may  have  been  meant  to  lead  to  a  panegyric  on  Italy.  But  here 
the  manuscript  really  ends,  the  few  remaining  fragmentary 
lines  being  hardly  legible.  The  reader  who  wishes  further 
versified  information  on  the  arts  of  the  chase  must  satisfy 
himself  in  the  pages  of  later  poets. 

Tn  the  second  century,  A.  D.,  Oppian  of  Cilicia  flourished. 
Controversies  have  been  waged  concerning  his  authorship  of  the 
Cynegetica  so  frequently  ascribed  to  him ;  ^'  but  an  article  in 

"  Op.  cit.,  p.  487. 
"Carmen  Venaticum,  11.  321-325. 

"Cp.  Oeorq.  t,  338-350,  of  Ceres'  festival — the  Ambarvalia. 
"  For  an   interesting  discussion  on  this  question   see  in   the  section  on 
"Polite  Literature"  in  the  Trnnsaetions  of  the  Kofinl  Irish  Academy,  vol. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  105 

the  Encyclopcedia  Britannica  states  that  Oppiaii  of  Apamea 
(or  Pella)  in  Syria,  is  the  author  of  the  Cynegetica.  The  poem, 
adds  the  writer,  is  dedicated  to  the  Emperor  Caracalla,  so  that 
it  must  have  been  written  after  211.  The  author  evidently 
knew  the  Halieutica,  and  perhaps  intended  to  write  his  poem 
as  a  supplement  to  the  earlier  work ;  but  in  style  and  poetical 
merit  it  is  far  inferior  to  the  production  of  the  first  Oppian, 
and  less  correct  in  versification. 

Translations  of  the  Greek  Cynegetica  may  be  had  in  Latin, 
French,  Italian,  and  English,^^  all,  except  the  Latin,  products 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  Only  four  books  of  the  poem  have 
survived.  There  were  originally  five,  says  Dr.  Drummond,^^ 
from  whose  analysis  I  give  the  following  summary:  The  poet 
begins  the  first  book  with  a  complimentary  address  to  Antoninus, 
and  eulogizes  the  emperor's  mother,  Julia  Dtonina.  He  declares 
himself  invited  by  Calliope  and  Diana  to  undertake  the  subject 
of  the  chase.^*^  He  hears  the  goddess'  voice  exhorting  him  to 
arise  and  accompany  her  through  a  region  of  song  where  ^'  no 
poet  ever  trod  before."  She  does  not  wish  to  hear  of  Baccbus, 
nor  of  war,  but  desires  him  to  sing  of  dogs  and  horses,  the 
stratagems  and  profits  of  the  chase,  the  loves,  the  antipathies, 
and  the  births  of  wild  beasts.    With  true  georgic  pride,  the  poet 

xiii,  •'  An  Essay  on  the  Life  and  Writinojs  of  Oppian,"  by  Wm.  Drummond, 
pp.  27  ff.  The  German  editor  of  Oppian,  Schneider,  thinks  that  the  Cyne- 
(jetics  and  the  IlaUeutics  were  written  by  difl'erent  authors.  Belin  de  Belu 
or  Ballu,  who  edited  the  Cyneqetics,  1786,  and  made  a  translation  of  tliem, 
tried,  but  not  very  convincingly,  to  defend  Oppian's  authorship  of  both. 
Some  critics  think  Oppian  a  general  name  for  any  writer  on  Marine  sub- 
jects, and  support  their  claim  by  etymology. 

'^Didot,  A.  F.,  Poetae  Bucolici  et  Didactid.  Paris,  1862;  Belin  de  Ballu, 
1786;  Anton  Maria  Salvini,  1728:  John  Mawer,  1736.  "The  First  Bk.  of 
Oppian-s  Cynegetics  tr.  into  Eng.  verse  with  a  dissertation  and  Oppian's 
life  prefixed."  Dedicated  to  Sir  Robert  Walpole.  The  latest  edition  of 
the  Cynegetica  seems  to  be  that  of  Pierre  Boudreaux.  Oppien  d'Apam^e: 
La  Chasse,  Paris,  1908. 

""Analysis  of  the  Cynegetica  of  Oppian."  Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Acad.,  vol.  xiii.  Section  on  "  Polite  Literature,"  pp.  47  11". 

=»  In  the  pastoral  manner  Oppian  here  introduces  dialogue  between  him- 
self and  the  goddess. 


106  The  Georgic 

plumes  himself  upon  the  originality  of  his  subject,  either  ignor- 
ant or  forgetful  of  the  fact  that  Gratius  Faliscus  trod  at  least 
the  beginnings  of  these  paths  two  hundred  years  before. 

After  his  declaration  of  originality,  the  poet  supplicates  aid 
of  the  all-powerful  ruler,  and  begins  his  theme.  He  names 
three  modes  of  the  chase,  the  aerial,  the  terrestrial,  and  the 
marine,  declaring  the  terrestrial  the  more  dangerous.^^  The 
poet  enumerates  the  personal  qualifications  of  the  hunter,  and 
gives  an  account  of  his  armor.  A  passage  follows  on  the  varying 
seasons  best  adapted  to  hunting;  then  there  are  some  lines  on 
the  arms  and  apparatus  of  the  chase.  After  this,  the  reader  is 
given  some  practical  information  about  horses,  their  breeding, 
and  their  color,  and  the  ideal  horse  is  described,  as  in  Vergil. 
To  adorn  the  theme,  mythological  references  are  introduced,  and 
the  poet  digresses  to  tell  the  story  of  a  king  whose  horses  were 
all  destroyed  by  plague. 

The  conclusion  treats  of  the  difference  in  breeds  of  dogs,  with 
particular  respect  to  their  training  for  the  chase. 

The  second  book  begins  with  an  account  of  the  origin  of  hunt- 
ing.   A  eulogy  'on  hunting  follows : 

Such  strenuous  chiefs  of  okl,  the  race  pursued, 
Whom  numbers  followed,  by  its  love  subdued; 
For  who  but  once  the  glorious  sport  has  tried, 
In  chains  unbroken  is  forever  tied. 
How  sweet  the  hunter's  sleep  on  vernal  flowers! 
How  cool  his  rest  in  Summer's  sunless  bowers! 
How  joyed,  'mid  rocks,  the  short  repast  he  shares, 
Or  plucks  the  fruit  mellifluous  Autumn  bears! 
His  thirst  in  streamlets  from  the  cave  he  cools. 
Or  batlics  his  wearied  limbs  in  standing  pools. 
And  in  the  woods  the  Shepherds'  offering  liails. 
Their  loaded  baskets  and  their  flowing  pails, 

an  idyllic  passage  in  the  spirit  of  Vergil's  eulogy  of  country  life. 

An  account,  reminiscent  of  Vergil,  is  given  of  the  jealousies 

and  battles  of  bulls ;  then  bulls  characteristic  of  different  coun- 

^  Oppian  of  Cilicia  declares  in  tlie  llalinitiai  that  sea  fishing  is  more 
dangerous  and  more  didicult  tliaii  hunting  on  land. 


Didactic  Poema  on  Field  Sporfs  107 

tries  are  described.  Some  verses  follow  that  treat  of  various 
animals;  and  the  poet  tells  of  the  animosities  and  affections 
existinti:  between  animals.  A  rather  amnsinc:  passajje  describes 
the  subns,  a  creature  with  two  horns  on  his  broad,  red  forehead. 
When  he  swims  through  the  sea,  the  fishes  delight  to  accompany 
him.  He  devours  them,  but  their  devotion  continues  uncooled. 
The  foregoing  passage  leads  to  an  address  to  "  improbus 
Amor  '' : 

O  Love,  dread  power,  invincible,  divine, 

What  wondrous  art,  what  matchless  might  is  thine! 

The  firm-set  earth  beneath  thy  arrows  reels. 

And  fixed  is  ocean  when  their  power  he  feels. 

When  high  from  earth  thou  speedst  thy  heavenward  flight, 

Olympus  trembles.     E'en  in  realms  of  night, 

Tormented  shades,  in  anguish  as  they  groan, 

With  shivering  horror  thy  dread  presence  own. 

And  though  the  sweets  of  Lethe's  stream  they  prove, 

Ne'er  drink  oblivion  to  the  power  of  love. 

In  strength  resistless  spreads  thy  awful  sway. 

Beyond  where  ever  shot  the  solar  ray. 

In  vain  with  thine  his  arms  would  Phoebus  wield, 

E'en  Jove's  winged  lightnings  to  thy  terrors  yield. 

Such,  dreadful  god,  thy  shafts  of  keen  desire, 

Heart-woimding,  cureless,  dipt  in  plague  of  fire, 

To  lawless  loves  they  savage  beasts  impel. 

And  against  Nature  drive  them  to  rebel. 

After  this  apostrophe,  the  poet  proceeds  to  describe  the  Oryx, 
the  Elephant  (which  is  called  a  horned  beast),  and  the  Rhin- 
oceros. "  As  to  the  smaller  animals,  his  muse  cannot  condescend 
to  sing  of  them."  ^"  However,  she  does  condescend  to  sing  of 
the  dormouse  and  of  its  winter  sleep,  and  to  name  several 
others,  among  them  the  blind  mole,  the  story  of  whose  origin 
is  narrated. 

In  the  third  book,  the  poet  announces  that  having  sung  of 
the  horn-bearing  graminivorous  tribe,  he  will  now  sing  of  carni- 
vorous animals.  He  seeks  to  enliven  his  instructions  by  various 
tales  of  the  lion,  the  lynx,  and  so  forth.     The  muse  is  then 

"  Cp.  Soniervillc.  "Of  lesser  ills  the  Muse  declines  to  sing.  Nor  stoops  so 
low." — The  Chase. 


108  The  Georgic 

invoked  to  sing  of  animals  of  a  mixed  nature,  and  the  book  con- 
cludes with  an  account  of  the  camelopard,  the  ostrich,  and  the 
hare. 

In  the  fourth  book,  Oppian  writes  more  in  the  manner  of  the 
georgic.  He  proposes  to  sing  of  the  arts  empLojed  by  hunters 
against  their  prey.  These  arts,  he  declares,  are  so  numerous 
that  no  mortal  can  name  them;  they  are  known  to  the  gods 
alone.  He  will  sing  of  those  which  he  has  learned  by  experience 
or  by  hearsay.  He  then  gives  an  account  of  the  arms  with 
which  ]*^ature  has  supplied  wild  beasts,  and  of  their  use  of  these 
arms.  The  common  modes  of  hunting  are  discussed,  and  advice 
is  given  to  the  hunter.  Various  methods  of  trapping  wild  beasts 
are  described,  customs  peculiar,  for  example,  to  the  Ethiopians 
and  to  the  dwellers  on  the  banks  of  the  Tigris.  After  an  account 
of  the  metamorphosis  of  the  Bacchantes  into  panthers,  the  book 
closes  with  a  passage  on  the  difficulties  in  the  pursuit  of  the  fox. 

Even  in  reading  the  analysis  of  the  poem  the  influence  of 
Vergil  can  be  seen.  But  the  poem  lacks  the  symmetrical  plan 
of  the  Georglcs,  and  like  the  Oppian  of  the  Halieuticn,  the 
Oppian  of  the  Cynegetica  seems  more  interested  in  natural 
history  than  in  rules  of  practice  concerning  the  arts  of  hunting. 
He  was  evidently  influenced  by  his  namesake,  although  he  does 
not  equal  the  earlier  poet's  skill  in  verse.  ]Sro  one  has  ever 
claimed  that  the  Cynegetica  of  Oppian  is  a  gTeat  poem;  but 
read  as  an  illustration  of  the  developments  in  the  georgic  type 
it  may  be  pronounced  an  interesting  and  valuable  work. 

The  next  didactic  on  hunting  of  which  I  have  any  knowledge 
is  the  unfinished  Cynegetica  of  Nemesianns.-^     A.  J.  Valpy  ^* 

=MM.  Stern,  1832.  Little  seems  known  of  Marcus  Aurelius  Olympius 
Nemesianus,  except  that  he  lived  at  the  end  of  the  third  century  A.  D.,  in 
the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Carus  and  his  sons.  Tiraboschi,  op.  cit.,  T.  ii, 
441  fr.,  notes  that  two  lost  poems,  Ilalieutica  and  Naulica,  have  been 
ascril)ed  to  him.  TeulVel,  op.  cit.,  vol.  2,  p.  .'508,  says  that  two  fragments  of 
a  poem  on  the  trapping  of  birds,  and  some  well-done  hexameters  of  the 
Pontica  of  an  unknown  author,  have  been  attributed  to  Nemesianus. 

-*'rhe  Classical  Journal,  xxxi,  p.  253  ("On  the  Poems  of  Calphurnius 
aiid  Nemesian  ") . 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  109 

describes  this  fragment  as  "  a  mere  dry  recital  of  particulars 
unenlivened  by  the  intervention  of  episode  or  moral  sentiment, 
clothed  indeed  in  lanjiuage  sufficiently  elaborate,  but  far  inferior 
in  vigor  and  pix'tical  expression  to  the  fragment  of  Gratius  on 
the  same  subject,  which  it  otherwise  resembles."  The  poem  is 
valuable,  however,  the  writer  adds,  for  such  information  as  it 
contains  on  the  subject  of  which  it  treats.  The  generous-minded 
Ging-uene  observes  that  Xemesianus  conserved  something  of  the 
genius  and  good  ta^te  of  the  hons  siecles.  It  is  certainly  only 
fair  to  say  that  considering  the  poet's  choice  of  subject  his  poem 
might  be  worse. 

Like  Gratius,  Xemesianus  begins  by  announcing  his  theme, 
"  the  labors  and  the  joyous  arts  of  hunting."  Like  Oppian  of 
Apaniea  he  evidently  remembers  the  opening  passage  of  the 
third  Georgic.  Perhaps  his  remembrance  is  partly  due  to 
Oppian  of  Apamea.  Other  subjects,  he  announces,  have  been 
sung  by  greater  poets ;  he  has  been  inspired  to  sing  the  open 
fields,  to  go  forth  amid  green  grass,  to  tread  upon  moss  yet 
untouched.  He  enumerates  a  long  list  of  subjects  now  grown 
commonplace;  and  he  promises  to  the  sons  of  Cams  a  poem 
upon  their  deeds. -^  Xot  until  line  102  does  he  begin  to  dis- 
course on  his  theme,  which  he  introduces  by  the  following 
passage,  due  evidently  to  familiarity  with  Vergil's  Georgics: 

Due  age,  Diva,  tuum  frondosa  per  avia  vatem; 
Te  sequimur :  tu  pande  domus  et  lustra  ferarum. 
Hue  igitur  mecum,  quisquis  percussus  amore 
Venandi,  damnas  lites  avidosque  tumultus 
Civilesque  fugis  strepitus  bellique  fragores, 
Nee  praedas  avidus  sectaris  gurgite  ponti.^ 

Dogs  are  then  treated ;  their  training,  their  needs,  the  coun- 
tries from  which  they  come,  their  great  sagacity,  etc.  Then 
in  the  same  manner  the  poet  writes  of  horses,  and  of  the  varied 
implements  of  hunting.  Here  the  poem  abruptly  ends.  It  was 
printed  for  the  first  time  in  1534;  ^"^  but  it  had  received  due 

"Cp.  Georg.  m,  10-48.  "LI.  97-102. 

"  At  Venice,  in  a  volume  containing  also  the  didactic  of  Gratius  on  the 
Chase,  Ovid's  Halieutica,  and  a  short  poem  on  the  chase  by  Cardinal 
Adrian,  cp.  Stern,  op.  cit.,  p.  ix. 


110  The  Georgic 

honor  long  before  the  sixteenth  century,  for  in  the  time  of 
Archbishop  Hincmar  of  Eheims  it  was  used  as  a  text-book  in 
the  schools.^^ 

2.    Medieval  Poems  on  the  Chase 

Drummond  -^  suggests  that  in  the  time  of  Oppian,  field 
sports  as  a  subject  for  poetry  may  have  been  in  as  gi-eat  favor 
as  fieldwork  in  the  time  of  Vergil.  However,  except  the  poem 
of  Nemesianus,  nothing  in  the  way  of  a  didactic  on  the  chase 
seems  to  have  survived  from  the  time  of  Oppian  of  Apamea 
until  the  thirteenth  century.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  the  stream 
of  pastoral  productions  was  "  reduced  to  the  merest  trickle."  ^^ 
From  the  third  to  the  thirteenth  century,  the  stream  of  georgic 
production  seems  to  have  entirely  disappeared.  The  few  pro- 
ducts of  the  later  Middle  Ages  are  mainly  didactics  on  the 
chase,  poems  so  obscure  that  in  general,  as  far  as  the  reading 
world  is  concerned,  they  are  quite  unknown.  Yet  the  history 
of  these  poems  is  far  from  uninteresting,  for  they  illustrate  a 
striking  phase  of  medieval  life. 

In  the  thirteenth  century,  I  have  found  no  didactics  in  Eng- 
lish or  Italian,  celebrating  the  arts  of  hunting.  Bnt  in  France 
the  theme  of  the  chase  was  not  neglected.  At  this  time,  love  of 
the  chase  was  a  general  passion  among  the  higher  classes  of  the 
French ;  feudal  barons  and  princes  of  the  Church  were  equally 
skilled  in  the  arts  of  hunting.^^  Aubertin  ^^  names  as  the 
first  metrical  product  on  the  subject,  a  didactic  written  before 
1230  by  a  Provencal  ti-oubadour,  the  canon  Deudes  de  Prades,^^ 

"  Cp.  Teuffel,  op.  cii.,  p.  !>. 

'^Op.  cit.,  p.  20. 

*"  Cp.  Greg,  op.  cit.,  p.  18.     See  above,  p.  27. 

"  Cp.  Jullien,  op.  cit.,  p.  100. 

^  Op.  cit.,  T.  II,  p.  64. 

''Deudes  or  Daude  de  Prades  died  before  1230.  lie  wrote  another  didactic 
poem  on  the  four  cardinal  sins.  A.  Jeanroy,  in  the  Grande  Encycl..  Vol. 
XXVII,  p.  531,  states  that  E.  Monaci,  Stndi  di  filologia  romanza,  xii,  gives 
the  complete  text  of  the  Auzels  Cassadors.  For  further  literature  on  the 
subject  see  Koch,  lieitriige  znr  Textcritik  der  Avzels  Cassadors,  Miinster, 
1897. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Spoiis  111 

Dels  Auzels  Cassadors,  thirty-six  hundred  octosyllabics  in  honor 
of  birds  of  the  chase.  To  the  same  period  belongs  an  anony- 
mous Chace  dmi  Cerf,  which  .Tullien  ^^  pronounces  the  first 
French  didactic  on  the  art  of  venery.  Aubertin  ^''  remarks  of 
this  poem  that  it  is  written  in  octosyllabics,  and  that  it  is  long 
and  full  of  technical  details.  Jnllien  ^^  supplies  the  added 
information  that  the  author  must  have  been  a  man  of  profound 
learning  as  well  as  a  skilled  hunter.  ''  Son  style,"  adds  the 
historian,  *'  atteste  la  connaissance  la  plus  parfaite  des  poetes 
latins,  et  les  amateurs  de  la  chasse  a  course,  '  ce  deduit  qui  les 
autres  passe,'  ne  sauraient  encore  dedaigner  aujourd'hui  les 
preceptes  qu'il  a  pris  soin  de  formuler."  ^" 

In  the  fourteenth  century  there  appear  to  have  been  neither 
English  nor  Italian  didactics  on  the  chase.^^  French  poets, 
however,  seem  to  have  been  Ix^lder  than  the  English  and  the 
Italians,  probably  because  love  of  the  chase  was  no  less  a  passion 
in  France  in  the  fourteenth  than  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
King  John  set  the  fashion  for  his  followers,  and  it  was  at  the 
king's  command  that  the  royal  chaplain,  Gace,  or  Gaces  de  la 
Eigne  ^^  wrote  his  cynegetic,  Les  Deduits  de  la  Chasse,  or  Le 
Roman  des  Deduits.^^  a  paraphrase  of  an  older  Livre  du  Boy 
^[odus  et  de  la  Reine  Ratio.  The  writer  uses  the  dramatic 
method  of  the  eclogue  to  expound  the  arts  of  hunting  w'ith  dogs 
and  with  birds.  The  two  arts  are  represented  by  Amour-des- 
diiens  and  Amour-d'Oiseaux,  who  expound  by  turns  in  order 

^  Op.  cit.,  p.  102.  "  Op.  cit.,  p.  6."). 

^  Op.  cit.,  p.  102. 

'■  Aubertin,  op.  cit.,  p.  6."),  names  still  a  third  poem  on  the  chase,  that  is 
found  in  the  thirteenth  century,  an  unedited  work  called  Dit  le  la  Cace  dou 
Cerf,  or  le  Cerf  Amoureux.  It  is  an  allegory  described  by  the  critic  as 
obscure  and  heavy.  The  lover  is  the  hunter,  the  lady  the  stag.  The  poem 
probably  bears  .somewhat  the  same  relation  to  the  didactic  on  field  sport 
that  Tansillo's  Tendemmiatore  bears  to  didactics  on  field  work. 

*'  Carducci  edited  Cacce  in  Rima  dei  Se<oli  XIV  e  XT,  Bologna,  189G, 
a  collection  of  poems   lyrical  and  idylic   in  character,  not  didactic. 

*•  1310-1380.  Tlie  poet  accompanied  King  John  in  his  captivity  in  Eng- 
land, where  Le  Roman  de  Deduits  was  begun.  Cp.  La  Grande  Encycl.,  T. 
6,  p.  803. 

*«Cp.  Jullien,  Op.  cit.,  p.  111. 


112  The  Georgic 

that  the  king  may  judge  which  has  the  better  right  to 
the  title  of  "  dediiit,"  "  c'est  a  dire  de  plaiser,  de  divertisse- 
ment par  excellence."  The  king  gratifies  both  with  the  title 
claimed.  "  L'oenvre  de  Gace  de  la  Eigne,"  says  Jullien,  '*  est 
depourvue  de  genie  et  d'agrement:  cependant,  elle  contient  quel- 
ques  details  interessants."  ISiot  the  least  interesting  point 
about  this  medieval  cjnegetic  is  the  fact  that  it  illustrates  the 
hold  of  the  chase  upon  the  higher  clergy.^^  Gace  de  la  Eigne 
closes  his  work  with  the  lines 

Ceulx  qui  I'orront  lire 

Que  de  leur  grace  ils  veuillent  dire 
Que  Dieu  lui  pardoint  ses  deffaulx 
Car  moult  aima  chiens  et  oiseaulx.'" 

About  1394,  Hardouin,  Seigneur  de  Fontaine-Guerin,'*^ 
wrote  Le  Tresor  de  Venerie,  1284  verses  in  octosyllabics  imi- 
tating a  prose  treatise,  les  Deduits  de  la  Cliasse,  by  Gaston 
Phebus  de  Foix.^^  Hardouin's  effort  seems  not  to  have  been 
very  successful.  Sometimes,  says  Jullien,  the  poem  is  hardly 
intelligible.  However,  altho  the  poet  may  have  lacked  skill  and 
clarity,  he  did  not  fail  in  enthusiasm  for  the  ''  noble  art."  In 
the  following  lines  he  voices  the  sentiment  of  his  age : 

Tous  nobles  doyvent  estre  duit 
D'amer  et  suir  le  deduit 
De  chiens,  de  chasse  et  le  mestier: 
Si  comme  a  Roys,  a  Dues,  fi  Contes 
Et  a  Princes  dont  les  bons  contes 
Sont  rementeus  et  retrais/^ 


*^  Jullien,  op.  cit.,  p.  112,  names  another  ecclesiastic  who,  before  Gace, 
celebrated  in  his  verses  the  noble  labors  of  the  hunter,  Philippe  de  Victri, 
Bishop  of  Meaux,  the  author  of  another  Roman  de  Deduits.  I  have  been 
unable  to  identify  Philippe  de  Victri,  or  to  learn  anything  concerning  the 
nature  of  his  verses. 

^'Cp.  Jullien,  op.  cit.,  112. 

^Jullien,  op.  cit.,  pp.  118-110.     Aubertin,  op.  cit.,  pp.  64,  05. 

"Gaston  Phebus  is  said  to  have  owned  1600  dogs.  His  book,  says  Jullien. 
is  a  treatise  ex  professo  on  dogs,  nooses,  bayonets,  and  all  the  other  four- 
teenth-century methods  of  taking  game. 

"  Cp.  Jullien,  op.  cit.,  p.  119. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  113 

In  the  fifteenth  century  there  is  found  almost  nothing  in  the 
nature  of  the  georgic.  The  theme  of  the  chase  was  not  entirely 
aliandoned,  but  in  Italy  the  poets  seem  to  have  had  no  interest 
in  didactics  on  hunting/®  and  in  France  there  appears  to  have 
been  little  inspiration  or  encouragement  to  write  of  the  chase. 
Louis  XI  loved  this  pastime  with  perhaps  even  gi"eater  passion 
than  his  ancestors.  So  greatly  did  he  love  it,  indeed,  that  he 
could  not  bear  to  share  his  hunting  gi-ound.  He  deprived  his 
nobles  of  their  ancient  privileges,  refusing  to  allow  them  to  hunt 
without  his  permission.  "  Le  roi  de  France,"  wi-ites  Jullien,^^ 
^'  voulait  seul  avoir  le  droit  de  prendre  les  animaux  sauvages 
par  tout  le  territoire."  The  cruelty  of  his  proceedings  against 
those  who  defied  his  will  was  not  likely  to  make  the  theme  of 
hunting  popular  in  song.  It  is  not  surprising  to  find  few  cyne- 
getics  belonging  to  this  age.  I  know  of  only  two,  the  first 
written  at  the  beginning,  the  second  at  the  end  of  the  century. 

The  earlier  specimen,  a  Fragment  of  a  Poem  on  Falconry, 
is  printed  by  Halliwell-Wright  in  the  Reliquiae  Antiquae.'^^ 
The  first  lines  are  missing ;  what  is  left  of  the  poem  begins  with 
an  account  of  the  dangers  incurred  in  hunting  the  boar  and  the 
stag.  The  writer  evidently  thinks  the  game  not  worth  the 
candle.     He  demands, 

Est-ce  plaisir  de  se  combatre 

Et  faire  ses  menbres  trencher 

A  un  serf  ou  i\  un  senglier? 

Avoir  paour,  peril  et  paine  ? 

N'est-ce  mie  chose  grevaine? 

Certes  si  est  que  que  nul  die; 

Mais  s'il  est  qui  le  contredie, 

Que  les  maulx  ne  faille  endurer 

Que  cy  m'aves  oui  nommer, 

A  ceulx  qui  deduit  de  chienz  aiment, 

Et  qui  maistre  et  seigneur  se  claiment; 


^  Lorenzo  de'  Medici's  much-praised  Caccia  col  Falcone  is  not  didactic. 
Greg,  op.  cit.,  p.  37-38,  places  it  in  "  the  outlying  realms  of  pastoral." 
Rossi,  II  'JfOO,  p.  241-242,  names  a  poem  on  the  chase  not  cited  by  Carducci, 
an  anonymous  Caccia  di  Belfiore.  There  is  also  a  Caccia  d'amore  by  Berni, 
which  has  nothing  either  of  the  pastoral  or  of  the  georgic. 

*'  Op.  cit.,  p.  131.  **  Op.  cit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  310. 

8 


114  The  Georgic 

Je  sui  prest  de  le  mettre  por  voir: 
Mais  il  est  trop  bon  assavoir, 

Que  deduit  d'oiseaulx,  monseigneur, 
Est  sans  mal  en  boute  greigneur : 
Car  donne  proffit  et  plaisance 
Et  bien  honneste  sans  grevance/' 

The  writer  treats  "  tout  premierement "  of  falcons ;  and  in 
the  georgic  manner  describes  the  ideal  falcon.  He  continues 
with  a  picture  of  the  King  of  France  setting  'out  for  the  hunt 
with  his  attendants,  and  introduces  the  narrative  and  conversa- 
tional style  of  Lorenzo  in  La  Cacciu  col  Falcone.  In  the  middle 
of  this  episode  the  fragment  breaks  off  abruptly. 

At  the  end  of  the  century,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  VIII, 
Jacques  de  Breze  wrote  a  Livre  de  Chasse/'^  w^hich  Jullien 
describes  as  the  charming  recital  of  a  stag-hunt  in  which  Anne 
de  Beaujeu  distinguished  herself  by  her  "  intrepidite  ainsi  que 
par  ses  connaissances  cynegetiques."  The  poem  appears  to  be 
georgic  insofar  as  it  is  said  to  be  filled  with  details  of  great 
interest  to  lovers  of  the  chase. 

To  the  fifteenth  century  belongs  the  only  versified  treatise 
on  hunting  that  I  have  found  in  English  literature  previous 
to  the  eighteenth  century.  It  is  contained  in  the  Bohe  of  St. 
Albans,^^  which  is  believed  to  be  the  product  of  Dame  Juliana 
Berners ;  ^^  but  the  Treatise  on  Venerie  is  unquestionably  hers, 
for  she  signed  her  name  at  the  end  of  it.  The  Treatise  is  not 
original,  being  merely  a  rimed  version,  with  a  few  additions, 
of  the  older  French  "  Venerie  de  Twety."  ^^ 

^"Another  version  of  the  old  quarrel  between  "  Amoiirs-des  Chiens  and 
Amour-des  Oiseaulx." 

'^  Ed.  by  JerSme  Pichon,  Paris,  1888.     See  Jullien,  op.  cit.,  p.  131. 

"Printed  at  Saint  Albans  by  the  Schoolmaster-printer  in  14S6,  repro- 
duced in  facsimile.     With  an  Introd.  by  William  Blades,  London,  1001. 

"'^  Of  Dame  Juliana,  sometimes  called  Dam  Julyans  Barnes,  much  has 
been  written,  but  little  is  certainly  known  except  that  she  lived  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century.  She  was  probably  prioress  of  Sopwell, 
and  she  was  certainly  the  author  of  one  of  the  first  printed  books  written 
by  an  Englishwoman. 

■^  Twety  or  Twici  was  the  chief  huntsman  of  Edward  II.  Another  trans- 
lation of  his  Venerie,  evidently  made  in  the  fifteenth  century,  is  edited  in 
Reliquiae  Antiqitac,  Vol.  i,  p.  149. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  115 

If  Dame  Juliaua  was  acquainted  with  Vergil,  or  with  the 
poems  of  Gratius,  and  Xemesianus,  and  Oppian,  she  gives  no 
evidence  of  the  acquaintance.  Her  treatise  on  Verierie  is  an 
unadorned  piece  of  didacticism,  of  value  to  the  philologist,  and 
to  one  interested  in  the  history  of  the  chase,  as  well  as  to  a 
student  of  the  georgic;  but  the  only  charm  it  offers  to  the 
modern  ear  is  its  simplicity  and  quaintness  of  expression. 

Dame  Juliana  makes  no  appeal  to  the  Muse,  and  no  apology 
for  her  subject.  Perhaps  she  believed  that  the  subject  justified 
itself.  Her  reference  to  Trystam  ^^  is  evidence  that  she  takes 
no  credit  for  originality.  ^Yith  an  affectionate  personal  address 
to  her  reader,  she  begins  to  impart  her  valuable  information. 

She  proceeds  with  various  practical  instructions  relative  to 
the  chase.     Of  the  times  to  hunt  she  writes : 

^^^leresoever  ye  fare  by  fryth  or  by  fell. 

My  dere  cliylde  take  hede  how  Tristam  doth  you  tell 

How  many  maner  beestys  of  venery  there  were. 

Lysten  to  your  dame  and  she  shall  yow  lere 

Powre  maner  beestys  of  venery  there  are. 

The  first  of  them  is  the  hert,  the  secund  is  the  hare 

The  bore  is  oon  of  tho,  the  \Yolff  and  not  oon  moo." 


^  For  the  book  of  Sir  Tristam  see  Sir  Thomas  Malory's  Le  Morte 
D' Arthur,  bk.  vui,  ch.  iii. 

"  Prefixed  to  the  prose  translation  of  the  Venery  de  Twety,  Halliwell- 
Wright,  op.  cit.,  are  some  rimes  which  the  editor  says  do  not  belong  to  it. 
Some  of  these  rimes  correspond  to  Dame  Juliana's  opening  words,  but  the 
writer  begins  with,  a  moralization  lacking  in  the  Boke  of  St.  Albans: 

Alle  suche  dysport  as  voydith  ydilnesse 

It  syttyth  every  gentilman  to  knowe; 

For  myrthe  annexed  is  to  gentilnesse, 

Qwerefore  among  alle  other,  as  y  trowe. 

To  knowe  the  craft  of  honting  and  to  blowe, 

As  thys  book  shall  witnesse,  is  one  the  beste; 

For  it  is  holsum,  plesaunt  and  honest. 

And  for  to  sette  yonge  hunterys  in  the  way, 

To  venery  y  caste  me  fyrst  to  go, 

Of  wheche  IIIJ  bestis  be,  that  is  to  say 

The  hare,  the  herte,  the  wulfhe,  the  wylde  boor  also. 

Of  venery  forsothe  ther  be  no  moe. 

And  so  it  shewith  here  in  porte  tewre 

Where  every  best  is  set  in  hys  figure. 


116  The  Georgic 

She  proceeds  with  various  practical  instructions  relative  to 
the  chase.     Of  times  to  hunt  she  writes : 

Merke  well  thys  sesonys  folowing, 

Tyone  of  grece  begynneth.  at  mydsomer  day 

And  tyll  holi  Roode  day  lastyth,  as  I  you  say. 

The  seson  of  the  fox  at  the  Nativite. 

Tyll  the  annvmciation  of  oure  lady  fre 

Seson  of  the  Koebuck  at  Easter  shall  beginne 

The  season  of  the  Roo  begynneth  at  Michelmas 

And  hit  shall  endure  and  last  ontill  Candilmas. 

At  Michelmas  begynneth  huntyng  of  the  hare 

And  lastith  till  midsomer  ther  nyll  no  man  hyt  spare. 

Like  a  good  religious,  the  Dame  marks  her  seasons  not  by  the 
heathen  constellations,  but  by  the  Christian  festivals  of  the  year. 

After  some  matter  concerning  the  hare  she  interpolates  a 
discussion  between  the  Master  of  the  Hunt  and  his  man,  repeat- 
ing portions  of  the  information  already  given,  but  using  a 
different  source.  After  this  she  concludes  with  instructions 
concerning  the  dismemberment  of  various  beasts. 

The  text,  except  in  the  interpolated  dialogue,  is  addressed  to 
"  my  dere  childe."  Mr.  Blades  suggests  that  it  was  probably 
written  for  a  mother  to  use  as  a  school-book  to  teach  her  son 
reading  and  venery. 

3.    Sixteenth-Century  Didactics  on  the  Chase. 

In  France,  and  in  Italy,  sixteenth-century  poets  treat  the 
subject  of  the  chase  more  or  less  in  the  fashion  of  the  georgic. 
It  is  perhaps  only  natural  that  in  England  the  georgic  muse  was 
doubtful  of  her  powers,  that  the  Vergilian  type  of  didactic 
poetry  made  little  appeal  in  a  period  that  throbbed  with  the 
poetry  and  the  passion  of  the  age  of  Shakespeare.  But  the 
literary  history  of  France  and  of  Italy  was  in  a  different  stage 
of  development.  In  Italy  the  poets  knew  that  they  would  find 
listeners  interested  in  any  subject  treated  in  the  manner  of  the 
classics;  in  France  at  this  time  as  in  the  three  preceding  cen- 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  117 

turies  the  poets  knew  that  they  would  always  find  listeners 
interested  in  the  subject  of  the  chase.^® 

Before  1525,  Guillaume  Cretin  or  Crestin  ^"^  took  up  again 
the  old  quarrel  of  the  hunters,  in  Le  Dehat  entre  deux  dames  sur 
le  passe  temps  des  chiens  et  des  oiseaulx,  which  is  an  eclogue 
rather  than  a  georgic.  Jean  Passerat's  ^^  poem  Le  Chien 
Courant,  composed  at  the  request  of  Henry  III,  begins,  at  least, 
with  the  georgic  features,  eulogy  of  the  reigning  prince,  and  a 
formal  announcement  of  the  subject : 

Dans  ces  forests,  ou  bruit  un  doiix  zephyre, 
Je  veux  des  chiens  et  de  la  chasse  €crire. 


Henry,  grand  roy,  fleur  des  princes  du  monde, 
A  qui  Diane  en  la  chasse  est  seconde, 
Donne  courage  et  force  k  ton  sujet 
De  bien  traiter  un  si  noble  sujet.** 

According  to  Jullien,^*^  Jacques-Auguste  de  Thou,  "  voulut 
celebrer  dans  la  langue  de  Virgile  et  d'Horace  le  noble  deduit 
des  oiseaux."  In  1581  the  Hieracosophion,  or  De  re  accipi- 
traria,^^  appeared  in  print.  This  was  a  poetical  treatise,  in 
which,  observes  Jullien,  the  author  overcame  the  difficulties  in 
his  way,  and  produced  a  w^ork  that  in  the  judgment  of  the 
severest  critics  has  placed  its  author  in  the  foremost  ranks  of 
the  modems  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  the  sultivation  of 
Latin  letters. 

Claude  Gauchet's  ^^  poem,  Le  Plaisir  des  Champs  ave^  la 
Venerie  Volerie  et  Pesclierie  was  begun  before  the  publication 
of  de  Thou's  Latin  treatise,  but  it  was  not  printed  until  1583.^' 

"  In  1575  Florent  Chretien  translated  Oppian's  Cynegetics  for  his  young 
pupil,  Henry  of  Bourbon.     See  Jullien,  op.  cit.,  p.  192. 

°"  Crestin  was  chorister  of  the  Sainte-Chapelle,  Paris.  He  died  c.  1525. 
Le  Dehat  was  printed  at  Paris,  1528,  reed.  1723,  and  in  the  Cabinet  de 
Venerie,  1882. 

»  1534-1602.  »  Jullien,  op.  cit.,  p.  184. 

•"  Op.  cit.,  pp.  187  ff.  "  I  quote  the  title  from  Juilie*. 

"  Claude  Gauchet  was  born  at  Dampmartin  in  Champagne,  c.  1540.  He 
was  almoner  ordinary  to  the  king,  and  afterwards  Prior  of  Beaujour. 

"  The   work   was    re-edited,    1604,    with    many    changes   and   omissions. 


118  The  Georgic 

It  is  an  interesting  poem ;  occasionally,  as  in  the  description  of 
Beaujonr,  very  charming.  Anticipating  Thomson's  Seasons, 
Gauchet  divides  his  poem  into  four  parts,  "  Spring,"  "  Sum- 
mer," "  Autumn/'  '^  Winter."  But  although  Gauchet  intro- 
duces passages  that  are  purely  georgic,  since  they  give  advice 
concerning  husbandry,  he  by  no  means  follows  the  georgic  plan, 
whereas  Thomson,  who  rarely  oifers  his  reader  practical  advice, 
and  that  never  directly,  illustrates  in  his  poems  almost  all  the 
other  georgic  features,  and  manifestly  imitates  the  plan  of  the 
Georgics.^'^ 

L.e  Plaisir  des  Champs  is  a  poem  of  rural  life,  chiefly  idyllic 
in  character:  the  poet  announces  his  subject  as  "  the  Pleasure  " 
of  country  life.  In  "  Spring,"  he  depicts  the  happenings  of  a 
day,  from  dawn  until  night;  painting  the  loveliness  of  the 
meadows  and  forests  of  Beau  jour ;  following  the  hounds  to  the 
hunt;  picturing  Shepherdesses  confiding  their  dawning  love 
affairs  while  they  watch  their  sheep ;  describing  the  village 
evening  feast ;  and  finally  recounting  a  dream  that  visits  him  at 
close  of  day.  But  the  pleasures  in  which  the  poet  is  most  inter- 
ested are  the  pleasures  of  the  chase.  The  greater  part  of  Le 
Plaisir  describes  sixteenth-century  methods  of  hunting  game  of 
all  sorts,  from  the  chase  of  the  boar  to  the  snaring  of  larks. 

The  first  book,  "  Le  Printemps  "  begins : 

II  est  temps  de  quitter  Venus  et  son  flambeau, 

L'arc  cupidonien,  les  traicts  et  le  bandeau, 

Les  larmes,  les  souspirs,  et  par  autre  exercise 

Cliasser  les  aiguillons  dont  nous  espoint  telle  vice, 

II  faut,  d'un  trac  nouveau,  suyvre  par  les  forestz 

Une  Diane  chaste,  et  tout  chargez  de  retz 

De  panneaux,  et  d'espieux,  de  bourses,  de  cordage, 

De  pants  et  d'autr'  engins  propres  a  tel  usage, 

Dedaignans  Cupidon  le  suyvre  par  les  bois, 

Criantz,  courantz,  brossantz  aux  lieux  les  plus  espoix : 

Chassons  I'oisivet^  ct  la  molle  parcsse 

Pour  suyvre  allegrement  ceste  chaste  D^esse; 

Ceste  exercise  gay,  vainqueur  d'oisiveti^ 

L'on  appellc,  a  bon  droict,  amy  de  chastet^. 


Prosper  Blanchemain's  edition,  Paris,  1869,  gives  the  original  poem  with 
notes  citing  the  later  changes. 
*"  See  above,  p.  44. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  119 

Such  an  introduction  leads  one  to  expect  a  poem  on  the  chase ; 
and  the  passages  immediately  following  suggest  that  the  poet 
has  in  mind  the  georgic  model.  There  is  the  conventional  ad- 
dress to  Diana,  goddess  of  the  hunt: 

Sus  doncq'  guide  mes  pas,  5  vierge  chasseresse; 
Donne  A  ma  Muse  effort  tant  que  baut  elle  entonne 
Les  plaisirs  qu'en  chassant  par  les  bois  on  se  donne. 

The  poet  then  marks  the  entrance  of  spring  by  the  position 
of  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  and  he  makes  a  personal  address  to  his 
friends  Ronsard,  Baif,  and  other  famous  men  of  the  times.  But 
here  he  ceases  to  follow  the  georgic  type,  for  after  describing  the 
preparations  made  for  a  supper  in  the  woods,  he  represents  him- 
self straying  alone,  making  a  complaint  on  the  cruelty  of  his 
lady,  a  theme  decidedly  pastoral,  not  georgic.  Straying  farther, 
he  overhears  a  shepherdess  singing  her  love  troubles,  and  at 
sunset  he  returns  home. 

In  the  following  section  a  fox  hunt  is  described,  after  that  a 
badger  hunt.  Then  in  the  manner  of  the  mediaeval  vision  poem, 
the  writer  tells  how^  he  lay  on  the  soft  moss  and  dreamed  that 
Diana  came  and  confessed  her  love  for  him ;  but  in  the  midst 
of  his  delight  he  wakened.  A  rabbit  hunt  is  then  described,  and 
a  short  section  is  devoted  to  fishing.  An  account  is  given  of  a 
village  festival  with  the  dance;  then  follow  two  poems  about 
sorrowing  and  love-lorn  shepherds.  After  this,  the  poet  over- 
hears a  conversation  of  georgic  nature  between  two  speakers 
named  Michaut  and  Phlippot,  who  describe  the  ravages  of  a 
fearful  storm,  which,  they  agi-ee,  has  been  sent  in  punishment 
for  the  crimes  of  the  day.  Thereupon  they  lament  the  evils  of 
the  time,  mourning  over  gi-ief-stricken  France,  more  sorrowful 
in  contrast  with  her  former  glories.^" 

Following  this  is  a  discourse  between  the  citizen  and  a 
hunter,  in  which  city  and  country  life  are  compared.  The  hunter 
outtalks  the  citizen,  and  makes  him  listen  to  a  lengthy  georgic 
on  the  building  of  a  country  house,  supplemented  by  detailed 

**Tbis  eclogue  was  suppressed  in  tbe  edition  of  1004,  and  replaced  by  the 
"  Discour  du  Chasseur  et  du  Citadin,"  pp.  93  ff. 


120  The  Georgic 

instructions  concerning  farm  life.^^  Incidentally,  Gauchet 
dwells  iipon  the  happy  lot  of  the  peasant  who  has  the  means  to 
live,  and  mentions  the  joys  of  different  forms  of  the  chase. 
Altho  at  one  point  of  the  discourse,  the  citizen  exclaims  of  so 
much  work  for  so  little  profit, 

le  jell  ne  vaut  pas  la  chandelle, 

he  is  finally  convinced  by  the  hunter,  and  declares  that  had  he 
the  remaking  of  his  destiny  there  is  nothing  he  could  desire  so 
greatly  as  life  in  the  country. 

After  this  the  poet  describes  his  return  to  Beaujour  and  the 
first  book  ends. 

JSTo  eclogues  are  found  in  the  three  remaining  books.  In 
"  Summer,"  harvest,  harvest  customs  and  the  implements  used 
for  harvesting  are  described.  In  "  Autumn,"  the  poet  draws  a 
picture  of  the  vintage,  dwelling  on  the  gay  side,  but  writing 
technically  of  the  methods  of  wine-making ;  perhaps  because  of 
the  difficulties  of  this  theme  he  expresses  himself  ^'  tant  affoibles 
pour  chanter  tel  sujet."  But  all  three  poems  "  Summer," 
"  Autumn  "  and  "  Winter  "  treat  chiefly  of  the  hunt.  Gauchet 
lingers  on  the  joyous  nature  of  field  sports,  but  he  does  not 
neglect  to  give  practical  and  technical  information,  as  for  ex- 
ample in  "  La  Curee  "  and  in  "  Le  Foloioit  or  the  Moyen  de 
Prendre  les  Alouettes  au  miroir."  ^'^ 

Much  of  Gauchet' s  poem  makes  pleasant  reading.  The  Prior 
of  Beaujour  rejoices  so  frankly  in  the  delights  of  the  fields  that 
he  wins  his  reader  to  rejoice  with  him.  ,  Le  Plaisir  des  Champs 
is  a  work  that  must  be  highly  prized  in  any  collection  of  litera- 
ture on  the  chase ;  it  is  of  even  greater  value  as  an  illustration 
of  the  blending  of  the  eclogue  and  the  georgic  type  in  a  poem 
which  is  a  delightful  example  of  the  pastoral  in  the  broadest 
sense  of  that  elastic  word. 

In  the  long  list  of  sixteenth-century  didactics  in  Italy  there 

"This  discourse  suggests  an  abbreviated  version  of  Vani^re's  Praedium 
Rusticum.    See  above,  p.  68. 
"  "  Summer,"  p.  144. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  121 

are  several  poems  on  the  chase.  Of  Cardinal  Adrian's  Venatio, 
published  by  Aldus,  1505,  I  know  little  more  than  the  name. 
Thomas  Walsh  ^^  pronounces  it  an  "  elegant  piece  of  Latinity." 
Tiraboschi  has  almost  nothing  to  say  about  it.  It  was,  however, 
thought  worthy  of  publication  in  at  least  two  editions,  for  it  was 
reprinted  in  1564,  at  Venice,  in  a  volume  with  the  cynegetics  of 
Gratins  and  Xemosianus.^^ 

To  Guinguene  I  am  indebted  for  an  account  of  Tito  Giovanni 
Scandianese's  Caccia,  published  in  1556.  The  poem  is  a  combi- 
nation of  the  cynegetic  and  the  ixeutic,  written  in  octosyllabics 
in  four  books.  The  first  opens  with  a  eulogy  of  the  chase,  and 
continues  by  eulogizing  celebrated  hunters  of  antiquity.  The 
reader  is  then  instructed  in  various  subjects  that  the  poet  thinks 
necessary  for  the  good  hunter,  such,  for  example,  as  weather 
signs. 

In  the  second  book,  the  poet  further  imitates  the  classic 
models  by  a  discussion  of  the  appearance  and  the  qualities  of  the 
good  steed ;  and  he  dwells  on  the  countries  that  produce  the  best 
horses.  Dogs  are  discussed,  and  as  Vergil  describes  the  "  arms  " 
with  which  the  fanner  must  "  conquer  "  the  soil,  so  Scandianese 
writes  of  the  "  arms  "  that  the  huntsman  must  know  how  to  use. 

In  the  third  book,  various  modes  of  the  chase  are  described, 
from  the  himting  of  the  hare  to  the  pursuit  of  lions  and  tigers ; 
and  in  the  fourth  book  precepts  are  given  concerning  the  capture 
of  birds  of  prey. 

Guinguene  observes  that  Scandianese  imitates  and  often  trans- 
lates ancient  writers,  especially  Gratius  and  ISTemesianus,  whose 
works  having  been  printed  as  recently  as  1534  were  little  known. 
However,  Scandianese  saved  his  readers  the  joyous  task  of 
searching  echoes,  for  he  took  great  pains  to  acknowledge  his 
imitations. 

Of  Natal  Conti's  De  Venatione  lihri  VI I  know  nothing  except 
that  it  was  published  in  Venice  in  1557.'^*'    Pietro  Angelio  da 

**  Catholic  Encycl.,  Vol.  i,  p.  161. 

•^  See  above,  p.  109,  n.  27. 

'"  See  Tiraboschi,  op.  cit.,  Tomo  vii,  p.  2140. 


122  The  Georgic 

Barga's  cynegetic,  published  in  1561,  has  received  appreciation 
at  least  at  the  hands  of  his  countrymen,  for  Tiraboschi  pro- 
nounces it  one  of  the  best  works  of  modern  Latin  poetry,  and 
Giovanni  di  ISTiccolo  da  Falgano  admired  it  sufficiently  to  trans- 
late it  into  Tuscan  verse. ''^-^ 

Da  Barga  wrote  also  an  ixeutic  in  four  books  SuUa  Uccella- 
gione,  but  only  the  first  book  was  published,  for  after  reading  it 
the  poet  became  so  discouraged  that  he  suppressed  the  remainder 
of  the  poem. 

Erasmo  da  Valvasone's  Caacia,  first  published  in  1591,'^-  is 
the  last  of  the  sixteenth-century  Italian  cynegetics,  one  of  the 
most  interesting  poems  on  the  subject  of  the  hunt.  It  has  the 
distinction  of  having  been  praised  by  Torquato  Tasso ;  and,  if 
one  may  judge  from  the  pleasant  account  that  Guingene  gives 
of  it,  it  is  not  unworthy  of  praise. 

La  Caccia  is  a  very  long  poem,  five  cantos,  containing  in  all 
from  seven  thousand  to  eight  thousand  lines.  The  subject  matter 
is  like  that  of  the  poet's  predecessors,  but  the  theme  is  developed 
difl'erently,  on  a  framework  corresponding  more  nearly  to  that 
of  the  Ge  orgies. 

The  first  book  begins  with  a  discussion  of  the  origin  of  the 
chase,  which  arose  out  of  the  necessity  of  protecting  the  flocks 
against  wild  animals,  after  man  had  lost  the  innocence  of  the  first 
age  and  had  begun  to  live  on  flesh  meat.  Then  the  reader  is  told 
of  the  degrees  by  which  this  necessary  exercise  became  an  art, 
and  is  informed  of  the  kind  of  arms  to  be  used  in  hunting.  The 
subject  of  the  varieties  of  hunting  dogs  gives  opportunity  for 
the  stock  introduction  of  the  theme  of  foreign  lands  and  the 
evils  of  luxury.  There  is  introduced  here,  also,  a  moralization 
on  beauty.  Thruout  the  whole  poem,  says  Guinguene,  precepts 
and  descriptions  appear  as  episodes.  Some,  extended,  consist  of 
whole  fables:  these,  instead  of  breaking  the  thread  of  the  poem, 

"See  Mazzoni,  Scritt.  ital.,  t.  i,  par.  2,  p.  747. 

"  Olimpio  Marucci,  Bergamo,  Ventura,  1591;  Venezia,  1593.  1602.  The 
poem  w;>.s  written  in  the  poet's  youth,  hut  it  Ava.s  not  puhlislied  until  two 
years  before  his  death,  having  been  revised  by  him  at  his  leisure. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  123 

are  placed  at  the  end.  A  long,  characteristic  digression  is  that 
by  which,  in  the  second  book,  the  poet  accounts  for  the  origin 
of  the  famous  bunting  dogs  of  Charsun  in  Istria.  Their  origin 
is  traced  to  the  Argonautic  expedition.  In  the  course  of  their 
"wanderings,  the  Argonauts  are  said  to  have  arrived  in  these 
countries.  Medea,  touched  by  the  hospitality  of  the  people,  uses 
her  magic  arts  to  confer  upon  the  waters  of  Istria  properties 
that  give  marvellous  virtue  to  dogs  that  drink  from  the  rivers 
flowing  from  the  source  of  the  Timavus.  Incidentally,  there  is 
introduced  in  the  story  a  priest  wbo  predicts  the  glory  of  Venice, 
and  the  prosperity  of  Istria  under  the  house  of  Austria,  a  not 
unskillful  treatment  of  a  favorite  georgic  convention. 

Simplicity  of  heart  and  Christian  piety  are  enumerated 
among  the  virtues  of  a  good  hunter,  who  should  never  fail  to 
hear  mass,  and  who  should  be  especially  mindful  of  the  Virgin 
Mary.  The  hunter  who  invokes  her  aid  may  be  sure  of  success, 
and  he  needs  have  nothing  to  fear  from  winds  or  storms,  nor 
from  magicians  nor  sorcerers.  If  the  hunter  neglects  to  pray, 
if  he  becomes  a  libertine  and  impious,  he  risks  punishment  such 
as  befell  one  Theron,  a  youth  beautiful  and  pious,  famed  for  his 
skill  at  the  chase.  Travelling  abroad  he  became  corrupted,  and 
returning  home  scandalized  the  comrades  whom  he  had  once 
edified.  Taking  part  in  a  boar  hunt  he  was  cruelly  killed  by 
the  boar,  an  evident  punishment,  to  wbich  the  poet  applies  tbe 
lesson  of  Vergil, 

Imparate  giustitia,  o  genti  humane, 
E  non  spregiar  le  Delta  Sovrane." 

In  the  fourth  book,  the  poet  forgets  his  Christian  precepts ;  and 
exh'orting  noble  youths  to  all  the  ardour  that  tbe  chase  demands, 
he  tells  them  that  they  need  not  fear  that  dust,  sunburn,  or 
fatigue  will  make  them  less  attractive  to  the  fair  ;  for  Hippolytus 
set  afire  Phaedra,  Adonis  Venus,  Cephalus  Aurora  and  so  forth. 
Poetic  illustrations^  remarks  Guinguene,  but  somewhat  far  from 
the  Ave  Maria  and  the  Mass. 

Following  this  the  poet  discourses  further  of  various  modes 

"  Cp.  Discite  iustitiam  moniti  et  non  temnere  divos   (Aen.  6,  620). 


124  The  Georgic 

of  the  chase,  and  of  various  sorts  of  weapons ;  then  he  expresses 
a  wish  that  it  were  possible  fo?  young  hunters  to  encounter  in 
the  woods  the  hind  of  Arthur  with  its  rubv  horns  (it  seems 
unnecessary  to  remember  that  hinds  do  not  possess  horns),  its 
iron  feet  and  its  hair  golden  as  the  fleece  of  Phryxus  and  Helle. 
This  leads  to  the  tale  of  an  adventure  of  King  Arthur  who 
followed  this  enchanted  hind.  It  appears,  says  Guinguene,  that 
in  a  didactic  poem,  Valvasone  desires  to  rival  Bojardo  and 
Ariosto.  The  episode  may  seem  far-fetched  continues  the  French 
critic,  but  it  is  brilliant  in  itself  "  revetu  de  riches  couleurs,  et 
mele  de  legons  de  sagesse  dont  le  poete  assure  que  le  roi  Arthur 
fit  sion  profit,  et  dont  chacun  roi  ou  sujet,  pent  faire  aussi  le 
sien." 

The  fifth  book  of  La  Caccia  treats  of  birds  of  prey  used  in  the 
hunt.  The  subject  is  treated  in  the  usual  manner;  varieties  of 
birds  are  named,  and  directions  are  given  for  breeding  them  and 
caring  for  them.  The  book  ends  with  a  fable  from  Ovid's  Meta- 
morplioses,  the  story  of  Nisus  and  Scylla. 

The  style  of  the  poem,  says  Guinguene,  is  in  general  poetic 
and  animated,  the  rime  and  the  octave  well  used.  The  reading 
may  fatigue,  but  it  will  not  bore  the  reader.  Valvasone  shows  a 
taste  less  pure  than  that  of  the  Aiii,  La  Coltivazione  and  La 
Naidica,  but  after  them  this  didactic  on  the  chase  deserves  a 
distinguished  place. 

4.    Eighteenth-Century  Didactics  on  the  Cha&e. 

John  Gay,  who  fathered  English  comic  opera,  and  delighted 
the  world  with  the  charming  freshness  of  The  Shepherd's  Week, 
tried  his  skill,  also,  at  the  georgic.  In  this  type,  as  in  the 
Beggar's  Opera,  he  w^as  a  pioneer ;  for  he  appears  to  have  led  the 
English  poets  who  wrote  didactic  verses  on  rural  sports  other 
than  fishing.  Dame  Juliana  Berner's  rimes  on  Venerie  '"*  hardly 
count,  even  if  one  charitably  reckons  her  among  the  poets. 

Gay's  poem.  Rural  Sports,  A   Georgic,"''^  was  published  in 

"See  above,  pp.  114flf. 

"  The  Poems  of  John  Oay,  The  Musea  Library,  N.  Y.,  E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  125 

1713.  It  is  in  two  cantos  written  in  rimed  couplets.  To  a 
certain  extent,  the  framework  of  the  Georgics  is  followed,  and 
Vergil  is  certainly  imitated ;  but  Gay  does  not  seem  to  have  in 
mind  earlier  writers  on  the  chase.  His  poem  lacks  the  stock 
opening  of  the  georgic ;  it  begins  with  an  address  to  those  who 
have  known  the  sweets  of  rural  life,  and  the  poet  continues  in 
tnie  georgic  spirit,  by  informing  the  reader  that  he  himself  has 
been  immured  in  the  town,  the  home  of  faction,  scandal,  and 
other  kindred  evils  peculiar  to  the  eighteenth-century  town.  He 
will  now  chose  a  calm  retreat. 

Where  fields  and  shades,  and  the  refreshing  clime 

Inspire  the  sylvan  song  and  prompt  my  rhyme. 

My  Muse  shall  rove  through  flowTy  meads  and  plains, 

And  deck  with  rural  sports  her  native  strains, 

And  the  same  road  ambitiously  pursue, 

Frequented  by  the  Mantuan  swain  and  you, 

"  you  "  meaning  Mr,  Pope,  to  whom  the  poem  is  dedicated. 

At  dawn,  the  poet  takes  his  way  to  watch  the  farmer's  early 
care  "  in  the  revolving  labors  of  the  year."  "^^  He  describes  very 
pleasantly  the  farmers'  work  in  the  morning  in  early  spring, 
tells  the  reader  how  at  noon,  when  bright  Phoebus  gains  the 
height  of  Heaven,  he  betakes  himself  to  the  forest,  where  he  can 
enjoy  the  sweets  of  evening.  Vergil  appears  to  satisfy  the  poet 
quite  as  well  as  Xature,  if  one  can  judge  by  the  lines. 

Here  I  peruse  the  Mantuan's  Georgic  strains, 

And  learn  the  labours  of  Italian  swains; 

In  ev'ry  page  I  see  new  landscapes  rise, 

And  all  Hesperia  opens  to  my  eyes. 

I  wander  o'er  the  various  rural  toil, 

And  know  the  nature  of  each  diflferent  soil : 

Tliis  waving  field  is  gilded  o'er  with  corn 

That  spreading  trees  with  blushing  fruit  adorn: 

Here  I  survey  the  purple  vintage  grow. 

Climb  round  the  poles,  and  rise  in  graceful  row: 

Now  I  behold  the  steed  curvet  and  boimd, 


'•Cp.  Geoffi.  II,  401-402. 

redit  agricolis  labor  actus  in  orbem 
atque  in  se  sua  per  vestigia  volvitur  annus. 


126  The  Georgic 

And  paw  with  restless  hoof  the  smoking  ground ; 
The  dewlap'd  bull  now  chase  along  the  plain, 
While  burning  love  ferments  in  ev'ry  vein. 


The  careful  insect  "midst  his  work  I  view, 
Now  from  the  flowers  exliaust  the  fragrant  dew; 
With  golden  treasures  load  his  little  thighs. 
And  steer  his  distant  journey  through  the  skies; 
Some  against  hostile  drones  the  hive  defend; 
Others  with  sweets  the  waxen  cells  distend: 
Each  in  the  toil  his  destined  office  bears. 
And  in  the  little  bulk  a  mighty  soul  appears. 

At  evening  the  poet  strays  to  "  i^eptune's  bounds  ''  to  take 
farewell  of  parting  day,  lingering  over  a  delightful  description 
of  the  sunset.  ISTight  loppresses  him  with  the  sense  of  his  limita- 
tions ;  but  in  the  next  passage,  he  cheers  himself  with  the  thought 
of  the  joyous  sports  afforded  by  the  revolving  seasons. 

Finally  the  reader  arrives  at  the  long  deferred  account  of 
"  rural  sports."  Spring,  declares  the  poet,  is  the  time  to  fish, 
and,  thereupon,  he  begins  to  instruct  his  reader  how  to  catch  the 
"  finny  brood,"  giving  a  description  of  the  modes  of  trout 
fishing  and  salmon  fishing,  the  latter  a  very  unpleasant  picture. 
The  "  scaly  prey  "  are  to  be  saved  from  the  hostile  jaws  of  the 
ravening  otter  that  they  may  be  delivered  over  to  the  mercy  of 
man ;  and  the  concluding  passage  loftily  declares. 

Around  the  steel  no  tortured  worm  shall  twine, 
No  blood  of  living  insects  stain  my  line; 
Let  me,  less  cruel,  cast  the  feather'd  hook 
With  pliant  rod  athwart  the  pebbled  brook, 
Silent  along  the  mazy  margin  stray. 
And  with  the  fur-wrouglit  fly  delude  the  prey. 

The  second  canto  begins  by  calling  upon  the  '^  sporting  Muse  " 
to  draw  the  flowing  rein,  lest  the  reader  tire  of  the  "  watery 
song." 

The  hunter  is  then  admonished  to  refrain  from  the  chase  until 
the  golden  corn  has  been  reaped,  lest  tlie  ]il(nvman's  labor  be 
rendered  vain.  However,  if  in  the  meantime  the  Ixisom  glow 
for  sylvan  sport,  there  may  be  permitted  the  chase  of  the  hare. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  127 

Carried  away  by  enthusiasm  for  his  subject,  the  poet  cries  of 
the  pursuing  hound, 

She  turn*,  lie  winds,  and  soon  regains  the  way, 
Then  tears  with  gory  mouth  the  screaming  prey; 

and,  as  if  quite  unconscious  of  the  cruel  ugliness  of  the  picture 
he  has  just  painted,  continues, 

What  various  sport  does  rural  life  afford! 

What  unbought  dainties  heap  the  wholesome  board! 

An  interesting  commentary,  not  so  much  on  Gay's  lack  of  feel- 
ing, as  on  the  laws  of  nature,  and  of  life. 

Being  wise  enough  to  doubt  his  skill,  the  poet  leaves  the  fox 
hunt  and  the  pursuit  of  the  stag  for  worthier  hands.  In  an 
episode  praising  the  joys  of  country  life  he  imitates  Vergil's  "  O 
fortunatos  nimium,"  '^"  and  contrasts  the  health  and  happiness 
of  the  rural  maid  with  the  courtly  dame  tormented  by  the  spleen 
amidst  the  luxuries  and  disease-breeding  idleness  of  city  life. 
Gay's  rural  maid,  like  Dodsley's  Patty, ''^^  seems  even  more 
blessed  than  the  heroine  of  the  pastoral,  for  she  lives  in  a  Golden 
Age  of  unclouded  happiness,  from  the  days  of  youth  and  love, 
thru  the  joys  of  maternity  and  cheerful  toil, 

Till  age  the  latest  thread  of  life  unwinds. 

Then  while  the  poet  is  yet  convinced  that  his  picture  is  true,  he 
exclaims, 

Ye  happy  fields,  unknown  to  noise  and  strife, 
The  kind  rewarders  of  industriotis  life; 


Farewell,  amusing  thoughts  and  peaceful  hours. 

So  ends  the  mediocre  poem  that  might  be  called  an  introduc- 
tory chapter  in  the  history  of  the  eighteenth-century  cynegetic. 
Thomas  Tickell,  in  his  versified  Fragiivenis  on  Hunting,"'^ 
claims  to  be  the  first  to  sing  of  this  subject  in  British  verse.  He 
was  probably  in  ignorance  of  Dame  Juliana  Berner's  Venerie; 

"  Georg.  ii,  458.  "  See  above,  p.  70. 

"  Chalmer's  Eng.  Poets,  vol.  xi. 


128  The  Georgic 

his  poem  was  certainly  written  before  Somerville's  Chase,  whicli 
was  piiblislied  in  1735;  and  as  far  as  Gray  is  concerned  Tickell 
is  justified  in  his  claim,  for  Gay  does  not  treat  technically  of 
h\mting.  He  does,  it  is  true,  give  precepts  concerning  the  fisher- 
man's art,  but  he  contents  himself  with  merely  describing  certain 
moments  of  the  chase. 

Tickell  makes  no  mention,  so  far  as  I  know,  of  any  indebted- 
ness to  Gratius  or  Oppian  lor  l^emesianus,  and  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  he  was  acquainted  with  the  French  and  Italian  poems 
on  the  chase.  He  imitates  Vergil  closely,  and  various  passages 
of  the  Fragment  are  clearly  echoes  of  the  Georgics. 

The  beginning  is  a  statement  of  the  subject,  the  stock  opening 
of  the  Vergilian  didactic ;  it  is  followed  by  the  poet's  declaration 
that  he  is  the  first  to  treat  his  theme  in  British  verse.  Dogs 
are  next  discussed  in  the  fashion  of  the  earlier  writers  of  cyne- 
getics,  as  cattle  are  sung  in  the  Georgics.  The  ideal  dog  is 
described,  as  is  the  ideal  bull  in  the  third  Georgic,  and  Vergil 
is  again  imitated  in  a  spring  passage.^*^  The  Golden  Age,  says 
the  poet  is  a  time  when  the  lion  and  the  lamb  lay  down  together, 
but  "  lour  daring  mother  broke  the  sole  command,  then  wrath 
came  down." 

Referring  to  Nimrod,  the  first  hunter,  Tickell  exclaims, 

Ah!  had  he  there  restrained  his  tyrant  hand! 
Let  me  ye  powers  an  humbler  wreath  demand. 
No  pomps  I  ask,  which  crowns  and  sceptres  yield, 
Nor  dangerous  laurels  in  the  dusty  field; 
Fast  by  the  forest  and  the  limpid  spring, 
Give  me  the  warfare  of  the  woods  to  sing, 
To  breed  my  whelps  and  healthful  press  the  game, 
A  mean,  inglorious,  but  a  guiltless  name. 

One  more  patent  imitation  of  Vergil's  prayer  to  the  Muses  to 
grant  him,  '  inglorious,  the  love  of  woods,  and  fields  and 
streams.' 

The  Fragment  ends  with  a  reference  to  great  Maro,  and  to  the 
third  and  fourth  Georgics. 

«»  Cp.  Georfj.  ii,  325  AT. ;  Oeorg.  ni,  242  ff. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Spoiis  129 

Tickell's  work  is  of  no  importance  as  a  poem,  nor  as  a  georgic, 
but  it  is  interesting  as  the  beginning  of  tbe  first  effort  at  an 
English  cynegetic  wf  the  formal  Vergilian  type  of  didactic 
poetry. 

William  Somerville's  Chase,^^"  written  in  1735,  is,  like  Gay's 
Rural  Sports,  professedly  a  georgic.  In  his  interesting  preface, 
Somerville  writes,  "  I  have  intermixed  the  preceptive  parts  with 
so  many  descriptions  and  digressions  in  the  Georgic  manner, 
that  I  hope  they  will  not  be  tedious."  -  .*■ 

The  Chase  is,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  'only  complete  poem  on  the 
subject  in  English.  In  his  preface  Somerville  mentions  Oppian 
and  Gratius  and  ISTemesianus.  He  remarks  that  one  might  have 
expected  to  see  the  subject  treated  in  full  in  the  third  Oeorgic 
of  Yergil ;  and  he  quotes  Vergil's  lines  on  dogs  and  on  the  hunt. 
After  some  further  observations  ion  the  chase  he  remarks,  "  The 
gentlemen  who  are  fond  of  a  jingle  at  the  close  of  every  verse, 
and  think  no  poem  truly  musical  but  what  is  in  rime,  will  here 
fijid  themselves  disappointed.  If  they  be  pleased  to  read  over 
the  short  preface  before  the  Paradise  Lost,  and  in  Mr.  Smith's 
poem  in  memory  of  his  friend  Mr.  John  Philips  .  .  .  they  may 
be  of  another  opinion.  For  my  own  part,  I  shall  not  be  ashamed 
to  follow  the  example  of  Milton,  Thomson,  and  all  our  best 
tragic  writers  .  .  . 

But  I  have  done 

Hark,  away, 
Cast  far  behind  the  lingering  cares  of  life, 
Cithaeron  calls  aloud,  and  in  full  cry 
Thy  hounds,  Taygetus ;  Epidaurus  trains 
For  us  the  generous  steed ;  the  hunter  shouts, 
And  cheering  cries  assenting  woods  return. 

{Oeorg.  m,  42-45.) 

The  Chase  is  in  four  books,  very  well  planned,  and  if  one  be 
interested  in  the  subject,  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  the  poem 
passed  thru  nine  successive  editions  gotten  up  with  all  the  attrac- 
tions that  the  publishers  of  the  time  could  offer.  And  even  altho 
the  reader  is  not  interested  in  the  subject,  if  he  is  just,  he  must 

*"•  R.  Anderson,  The  Wks.  of  the  British  Poets,  vol.  8,  445-544. 

9 


130  The  Georgic 

still  admit  with  Dr.  Johnson  that  "  to  this  poem  praise  can  not 
be  totally  denied." 

The  Chase,  as  Somerville  states  in  his  preface,  follows  the 
conventions  of  the  georgic.  Since  the  poet  does  not  treat  of 
hunting  as  a  rural  occupation  necessary  for  the  preservation  of 
peace  and  life,  hut  as  an  amusement  of  the  country  gentleman, 
he  may  be  said  to  use  the  pastime  motive  of  the  Georgics  as  his 
subject;  Vergil's  central  theme,  the  glorification  of  labor,  is  left 
untouched.  But  all  the  other  important  features  of  the  georgic 
are  illustrated  in  the  poem,  from  the  stock  opening  to  the  long 
narrative  episode  at  the  close. 

Somerville  imitates  the  ancients  in  his  treatment  of  his 
theme;  but  he  knows  his  subject,  for  he  was  a  mighty  hunter  in 
his  day,  and  he  recalls  realistically  the  scenes  in  which  he  once 
bore  a  joyous  part.  He  dwells  on  the  precepts  of  his  art  quite 
as  lovingly  as  does  Vergil.  He  regards  the  chase  as  a  noble  art, 
and  he  teaches  the  necessity  of  following  it  according  to  rule 
and  order,  with  a  certain  gentlemanly  restraint  very  different 
from  that  of  our  rude  forefathers. 

Throughout,  Somerville  shows  a  gi-eat  delight  in  the  outdoor 
world,  particularly  the  world  of  early  morning;  and  altho  his 
descriptions  lof  nature  are  often  very  conventional,  he  frequently 
shows  that  he  does  not  see  "  thru  the  spectacles  of  books."  His 
weather  signs  are  clearly  drawn  from  a  knowledge  of  English 
climate,  not  from  the  mere  reading  of  Vergil's  '  certain  signs.' 

Somerville  thinks  that  his  theme  needs  no  apology,  but  he 
believes  that  there  are  themes  below  the  dignity  of  the  Muse, 
for  after  telling  of  the  care  and  training  of  hounds  he  writes, 

Of  lesser  ills  the  Muse  declines  to  sing, 

Nor  stoops  so  low;  of  these  each  groom  can  tell 

The  proper  remedy. 

A  piece  of  poetical  commonsense  highly  to  be  recommended. 

Tlie  critics  cannot  say  of  Somerville  as  they  say  of  Thomson, 
that  ho  overlooks  the  cruelty  of  nature ;  for  the  cruel  laws  of  life 
furnish  the  motive  whereby  the  poet  justifies  the  hunt.  He  does 
not  seem  to  have  ideals  even  about  the  Golden  Age,  for  in  speak- 


Didactic  Poems  oji  Field  Sports  131 

ing  of  the  beasts  that  should  be  preserved  and  of  those  that 
should  be  destroyed,  he  writes, 

Slioiild  not  man's  care 
Improve  his  growinji:  stocks,  their  kinds  might  fail, 
Man  might  once  more  on  roots  and  acorns  feed, 
And  through  the  desert  range  shivering  forlorn, 
Quite  destitute  of  every  solace  dear 
And  every  smiling  gaiety  of  life. 

The  picture  seems  to  owe  something  to  Thomson's  description  of 
the  savage  state  of  man  before  the  coming  of  ludustry,^^  and  is 
the  nearest  approach  that  Somerville  makes  to  Vergil's  theme  of 
the  reward  of  toil. 

Somerville  has  no  sympathy  with  the  sentimentalists  who 
think  that  it  is  cruel  to  kill  animals;  he  thinks  it  cruel  not  to 
kill  when  it  is  necessary  to  do  so.  But  he  holds  with  the 
eighteenth-century  philosophy  that  war  is  guilt,  and  seems  to 
feel  that  in  the  chase  man  can  satisfy  with  innocence  the  passions 
that  would  otherwise  lead  to  the  oppression  of  the  human  race. 
In  the  concluding  lines  of  the  second  book  he  cries, 

Ye  proud  oppressors,  whose  vain  hearts  exult 
In  vrantonness  of  power,  'gainst  the  brute  race. 
Fierce  robbers  like  yourselves,  a  guiltless  war 
Wage  uncontrolled:  here  quench  your  thirst  of  blood; 
But  learn  from  Aurengzebe  to  spare  mankind. 

Yet,  that  he  has  some  sympstthy  with  the  brute  race  may  be 
seen  from  the  conclusion  of  the  fourth  book  in  which  he  ad- 
dresses a  eulogy  on  mercy  (perhaps  a  little  inconsistent  in  a 
poem  on  the  chase)  to  the  prince  who  saves  the  brave  stag  from 
the  hungry  pack. 

Somerville  feels  that  Grod's  gifts  to  man  are  good.  He  believes 
in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,^^  and  reverences  deeply  the 
Supreme  Power.  In  his  delight  in  remembering  the  joys  of 
exercise  and  health,  he  reveals  his  personality,  strong  and  vigor- 
ous even  in  old  age.     But  for  all  his  individuality  he  does  not 

"Autumn,  57  fT. 

*^  See  the  opening  lines  of  Book  rv. 


132  The  Georgic 

scorn  to  color  his  pages  with  sentiments  taken  directly  from  the 
classics.  His  address  to  "  the  happy  ranger  of  the  fields,"  be- 
ginning, 

0  happy,  if  ye  knew  your  happy  state 

is  only  another  imitation  of  Vergil's  "  O  fortunatos  nimium,"  ^^ 
and  the  concluding  prayer,  as  Myra  Reynolds  points  out  in  her 
Nature  in  English  Poetry, ^^^  is  closely  modelled  after  the  con- 
cluding lines  of  Thomson's  Autumn,  in  which  Thomson  imitates 
Vergil's  prayer  to  the  Muses. 

Somerville's  Chase  has  been  read,  not  only  with  interest,  but 
with  enthusiasm  by  lovers  of  the  noble  art.  Prose  writers  on 
rural  sports  frequently  pay  Somerville  the  compliment  of 
quoting  his  spirited  lines. ^*  Yet  when  the  reader,  indifferent 
to  the  subject  of  the  chase,  has  been  just  enough  to  agree  with 
Dr.  Johnson  that  "  to  this  poem  praise  can  not  be  totally 
denied,"  pardon  may  be  granted  for  the  honest  statement  that 
Somerville's  effort  is  to  be  praised  more  for  truth  than  for 
poetry. 

I  am  not  acquainted  with  any  other  English  poet  of  the 
eighteenth  century  who  imitated  Somerville  in  writing  of  the 
chase.  Vaniere  treats  the  subject  in  the  Praedium  Busticum, 
writing  of  different  modes  of  pursuing  different  animals,  from 
the  hare  to  the  wolf,  the  lion,  and  the  tiger;  and  in  1775,  an 
Italian  poet  named  Antonio  Tirabosco  ^^  published  a  poem 
entitled  L'TJccellagione,  but  I  know  nothing  more  than  the  name 
of  the  work. 

Mazzoni  ^^*  names  three  nineteenth-century  Italian  poems  on 
the  chase,  written  by  Lorenzo  Tornieri,  who  translated  Vergil's 
Oeorgics.  The  subjects  of  the  poems  are  La  caccia  delle  allodole 
col  paretaio.  La  caccia  delle  quaglie.  La  caccia  della  lepre.    In 

"  Georg.  ii,  458. 

^^  Treatment  of  Nature  in  Eng.  Poetry  from  Pope  to  Wordsworth,  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago,  2d  ed. 

"*  See,  for  example,  Daniels,  op.  cit. 
*"  See  Concari,  op.  cit. 
""  Op.  cit.,  p.  78. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  133 

bow  far  thej  are  georgic  in  character,  valuable  in  content,  I  am 
unable  to  say, 

In  the  Eduiburgh  Review,  1808-09,^^  there  is  a  very  interest- 
ing critique  of  an  anonymous  nineteenth-century  English  poem 
on  Fowling.  The  writer  in  the  Review  is,  evidently,  a  fair  and 
generous  person,  who  does  not  believe  that  didactic  poetry  jus- 
tifies itself;  but  who  declares,  nevertheless,  ''  Though  poetical 
talents  are  misapplied  ...  to  subjects  of  no  powerful  or  reason- 
able interest,  yet  those  talents  may  still  be  displayed  upon  such 
subjects.  Accurate  and  lively  description  will  always  be  de- 
lightful, and  no  subject  can  be  fairly  denominated  unpoetical 
which  holds  out  an  opportunity  to  expatiate  on  the  beauties  of 
nature."  Comparing  the  poem  with  that  of  Somerville,  the 
reviewer  concludes  that  the  subject  of  Fowling  is  more  romantic, 
that  of  the  Chase  more  picturesque.  Enough  of  the  anonymous 
poem  is  quoted  to  give  some  idea  of  its  merit,  and  to  show  that 
to  a  certain  extent,  at  least,  it  is  georgic  in  character,  since  it 
contains  moral  reflections,  and  the  familiar  invective  against 
the  shooting  of  grouse,  partridges,  pheasants,  woodcock,  snipe 
and  ducks.  In  the  first  book,  the  poet  has  the  lonely  heaths  for 
city  life.  In  the  five  books  of  the  poem  are  treated  successively 
his  background,  in  the  last  the  equally  wild  loveliness  of  marsh 
and  stream.  The  scenery  in  the  latter,  says  the  reviewer,  is 
"  most  engaging."  He  adds  that  the  passages  he  cites  are  not 
offered  as  specimens  of  exquisite  or  powerful  poetry ;  but  he 
finds  in  the  whole  poem  the  merit  of  truth  and  simplicity.  The 
review  seems  due  chiefly  to  the  generous  disposition  of  the 
writer,  who  is  sure  that  there  may  be  readers  to  whom  the  poem 
may  afford  more  pleasure  than  it  has  done  to  himself.  He 
concludes  with  the  remark  that  the  author  of  this  poem  (one 
hundred  and  fifty  pages  on  the  subject  of  fowling)  might  do 
something  better  than  make  poems  on  field  sports. 

After  the  first  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  no  other 
English  poet  appears  to  have  had  the  courage  to  expend  his 

**  Pp.  09  ff.,  "  Fowling,  a  Poem  in  Five  Books  descriptive  of  Grouse,  Par- 
tridge, Pheasant,  Woodcock,  Duck,  Snipe  Shooting.''     12mo.,  pp.  150. 


134  The  Georgic 

labor  or  his  talent  on  a  didactic  on  field  sports ;  but  as  late  as 
1844,  there  was  published  in  Paris  a  volume  by  Theophile 
Deyeux  entitled  La  Chassamanie.  To  the  student  of  the  didactic 
poem  on  field  sports  this  book  is  as  interesting  as  it  is  curious, 
and  even  the  casual  reader  might  find  it  worth  inspection.  The 
author  follows  no  definite  plan;  his  arrangesment  of  his  sub- 
ject matter  suggests  somewhat  Claude  Gauchet's  Plaisir  des 
Champs.^'^  There  is,  however,  no  division  according  to  the 
seasons,  nor  are  there  eclogues  georgic  in  character  such  as  are 
found  in  Gauchet.  The  resemblance  lies  in  the  number  of  poems 
of  varying  meter  and  length  on  such  subjects  as  the  hunting  of 
the  hare,  the  snaring  of  the  lark  with  mirrors,  and  so  forth.  The 
chief  digression  consists  of  a  number  of  reflections  inserted  as 
the  contents  of  the  hunter's  notebook. 

Deyeux  appears  to  have  been  little  influenced  by  earlier 
writers  on  the  subject  of  the  chase,  nor  does  he  seem  to  have 
Vergil  in  mind.  He  writes  evidently  from  experience  and  from 
love  of  his  subject,  so  that  his  verses,  altho  lacking  poetic  heights 
of  imagination,  have  a  certain  pleasant  simplicity  and  individu- 
ality. To  the  general  reader,  much  more  interesting  than  his 
detailed  accounts  of  the  pursuit  of  wild  animals  is  the  digres- 
sion on  the  hunter's  meditations,  and  his  defense  of  the  hunter's 
character.  The  hunter,  remarks  the  poet,  is  accused  of  being 
gross  and  cruel;  greatly  is  he  misunderstood.  The  very  life 
that  he  lives  in  the  pure  air  of  woods  and  fields  develops  in  him 
admirable  modes  of  thought,  and  in  the  days  when  it  rains, 
perhaps  for  a  week  at  a  time,  he  is  given  to  fruitful  meditations, 
(yonsult  his  notebook  and  see.  The  "Chassomane's "  reflec- 
tions are  prefaced  by  the  following  remark : 

Tout  homme  doit  de  front  mener  deux  existences, 
L'une  est  toute  physique,  et  simultan^ement 
L'autre  est  toute  morale  et  dicte  les  d^penses 
Dont  le  compte  est  sold6  par  le  temperament.** 

Then  occur  a  series  of  meditations  on  Pride,  Modesty,  Anger, 

"  See  above,  pp.  117  ff. 

"See  "  Le  Garnet  du  Chassomane,"  La  Chassomanie,  pp.  115  ff. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  135 

Deception,  Love,  Hate,  and  so  forth.  Particularly  interesting 
are  Deyeux'  verses  on  "  La  Chasse  et  la  Guerre."  They  sound 
an  opinion  quite  at  variance  with  the  familiar  anti-war  senti- 
ments of  the  poets  of  the  eighteentli  century,  the  sentiments 
characteristic  of  almost  all  georgic  poetry.  The  following  lines 
are  sufficient  to  illustrate  the  poet's  point  of  view : 

On  trompe  la  soci4t6, 
Depuis  qu'un  rh^eur  ent§t6 
S'en  est  venu,  d'une  voix  salnte 
Proclamer  dans  la  France  ^einte, 
Qui  sentit  fremir  son  drapeau, 
Que  la  guerre  #tait  un  fl^au. 
Mais  cette  erreur,  elle  est  profonde, 
La  guerre  est  I'essence  du  monde, 
Elle  est  la  volenti  de  Dieu, 
Qui  partout  allume  le  feu.*' 

How  many  other  would-be  poets  may  have  followed  in  the 
footsteps  of  Deyeux  I  do  not  know.  In  Les  georgiques  cJire- 
tiennes,^^  Francis  Jammes  has  some  passages  descriptive  of  field 
sports,  but  Deyeux'  Chassomanie  is  the  latest  complete  work  on 
the  subject  of  the  hunt  with  which  I  am  acquainted.  In  these 
days  when  one  can  read  of  little  else  than  human  warfare,  it 
would  be  a  brave  writer  who  would  attempt  to  find  an  audience 
for  poetic  efforts  on  such  a  theme. 

II.     Of  Fishing.     The  Halieutic. 
1.    Oppian  of  Cilicia. 

In  the  Georgics,  Vergil  alludes  to  the  fisherman's  art,^  which 
he  mentions  among  the  results  of  the  passing  of  the  Golden  Age. 
Father  Jove  saw  fit  to  make  men's  wits  keener  by  the  hardships 
of  life.  Hence  mortals  learned  to  fish  in  rivers  and  to  drag 
their  dripping  nets  thru  the  sea.  The  subject  of  the  didactic 
poem  on  fishing  may  thus  be  said  to  have  been  proposed. 

Theocritus  set  the  fashion  of  the  piscatory  eclogue  in  Idyll 

^^  La  Chassomanie,  p.  196.  *  See  above,  pp.  46-47^ 

^Georg.  i,  141-142.    See  above,  p.  41. 


136  The  Georgic 

XXI.  But  not  until  the  time  of  Sannazaro  do  any  notable  poets 
seem  to  have  availed  themselves  of  this  model.  The  earliest 
extant  poems  on  fishing,  the  fragmentary  Halieutica  ascribed  to 
Ovid,  and  the  Halieutica  of  Oppian  appear  to  have  been  sug- 
gested by  Vergil,  not  by  Theocritus,  since  they  are  didactic 
rather  than  idyllic  in  character. 

Defending  the  piscatory  poets  against  their  assailants,  Mr. 
Jones  remarks  in  the  "  Account  of  the  Life  and  "Writings  of 
Oppian  "  prefixed  to  the  English  translation  of  the  Greek  poet's 
Halieutics,  "  If  the  Waters  contain  in  them  nothing  but  what 
is  uncomfortable  and  dreadful,  'tis  very  strange  that  Ovid,  who 
naturally  loved  what  was  soft  and  agreeable,  should  have  made 
any  attempt  in  this  kind."  Waiving  the  question  of  the  discom- 
fort and  dread  of  the  waters,  the  critics  are  still  divided  regard- 
ing Ovid's  authorship  of  the  fragmentary  Halieutica,  which 
those  who  ascribe  it  to  him  suppose  to  have  been  written  during 
his  banishment  on  the  shores  of  the  Euxine.^  Whether  or  not 
Ovid  wrote  this  fragment  ^  the  critics  seem  agreed  that  it  was 
certainly  written  in  the  time  of  Ovid.  In  this  poem  is  found 
for  the  first  time  the  comparison  between  hunting,  fowling,  and 
fishing.  The  poet  prefers  his  own  occupation  because  of  its 
freedom  from  the  dangers  that  attend  the  chase.'*  He  begins  to 
describe  his  art,  then  advises  his  disciple  not  to  put  far  out  to 
sea,  but  to  pursue  the  sport  on  shore.  A  description  of  the 
proper  tackle,  upon  which  so  much  depends,  is  promised,  and 

=»  See  Walton  and  Cotton,  The  Complete  Angler.  With  a  bibliographical 
Pref.  by  the  American  Editor.  N.  Y.,  John  Wiley,  1852,  pp.  xv  flf.  Among 
the  lost  works  of  antiquity  on  the  subject  the  "  American  Editor  "  mentions 
the  following:  Csecilius'  or  Cecilius'  De  He  Piscatoria,  an  epic  poem;  Pan- 
cratius  the  Arcadian's  Alieiitica;  Numenius  of  Heraclse's  AUeiiticos,  an 
elegiac  poem;  Posidonius  of  Corinth's  AUeutica,  an  epic  poem;  Seleucus  of 
Emesa's  Aspalieutica,  an  epic;  Alexander  the  .Etolian's  Aliens,  an  epic 
poem. 

'  There  is  usually  prefixed  to  this  work  another  brief  fragment,  entitled 
Pontica,  supposed  by  some  to  be  the  remains  of  Nemesian's  work  on  fishing. 
After  Ovid's  fragment  is  sometimes  printed  another  of  so  little  worth  that 
the  vexed  question  of  its  authorship  is  hardly  worth  considering. 

*Cp.  the  views  of  Nemesianus  and  of  Oppian  of  Cilicia.    See  above,  p.  106. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  137 

there  is  a  brief  description  of  the  varied  play  of  fish  after  they 
are  hooked,  which  draws  from  the  American  editor  of  Walton 
and  Cotton  ^  the  exclamation,  "  There  is  such  a  spirit  in  these 
passages  that  we  lament  again  and  again  the  absence  of  those 
which  are  lost  to  us." 

The  most  valuable  work  of  antiquity  on  the  subject  of  fishing 
is  the  Ilalieutica  of  Oppian  of  Cilicia,^  a  poem  that  has  met  with 
extravagant  praise  as  well  as  with  the  coldest  neglect. 

The  Halieutica  was  dedicated  by  Oppian  to  the  Emperor 
Severus  and  his  son  Caracalla.  Thus  the  poet  follows  the  Ver- 
gilian  tradition.  And  if  report  may  be  believed,  the  public 
reading  of  Oppian's  poem  was  not  less  appreciated  than  the 
reading  of  Vergil's  poems  before  Augustus.  Oppian  is  said  to 
^ave  written  the  Halieutica  during  his  life  on  the  island  of 
Melita,  whither  his  father  Agesilaus  had  been  exiled  by  Severus. 
The  Roman  Emperors,  according  to  the  account  of  Dr.  Drum- 
mond,'^  were  interested  in  fishing,  and  Oppian  in  writing  his 
poem  on  this  subject  hoped  to  secure  the  emperor's  favor  and  a 
pardon  for  his  father.  Dr.  Drummond  hazards  the  remark,  "  If 
Georgics  were  a  favorite  topic  in  the  days  of  Vergil,  field  sports 
may  not  have  been  less  so  in  the  days  of  Oppian."  Whether 
because  of  the  popularity  of  the  subject  or  for  some  other  equally 
interesting  reason  the  Halieutics  are  said  to  have  been  read 
aloud  in  the  temple  of  Apollo.     Severus  and  his  family  were 

*  Op.  cit. 

"  For  the  identity  of  Oppian,  see  above,  p.  104.  There  have  been  many 
editions  and  translations  of  the  Halieutica.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned 
the  Florence  edition  of  1515,  the  Aldine,  1517,  with  the  translation  of  L. 
Lippius,  first  published  1447;  Schneider's  edition,  1776,  which  includes  the 
Latin  prose  translation  of  Turnebus.  Among  French  translations  are  those 
of  Plorent  Chretien,  Paris,  1575;  Belin  de  Ballu  (in  prose),  Strasburg, 
1787;  E.  J.  Bourquin,  1877.  The  only  English  translation  that  I  know  is 
the  valuable  version  of  Diaper  and  Jones,  Tlalientics,  of  the  Nature  of  Fishes 
and  Fishing  of  the  Ancients.  In  five  books.  Translated  from  the  Greek. 
With  an  account  of  Oppian's  Life  and  Writings  and  a  Catalogue  of  his 
Fishes.  Oxford,  1722.  Books  I  and  II  transhited  by  Mr.  Diaper,  Books 
III,  IV  and  V  by  John  Jones,  M.  A. 

'  "  The  Life  and  Writings  of  Oppian."    See  above,  p.  104,  n.  17. 


138  The  Georgic 

present ;  Oppian  secured  their  favor  by  his  eulogistic  passages, 
and  the  Emperor  oflfered  him  any  reward  that  he  might  ask. 
Pleased  by  the  filial  piety  of  the  poet,  the  Emperor  not  only 
granted  pardon  to  Agesilaus,  but  gave  Oppian  besides  a  status 
for  each  of  his  "  golden  "  verses. 

In  the  English  translation  the  poem  is  divided  into  two 
parts.  The  first  and  second  books  "  translated  by  Mr.  Diaper," 
treat  of  the  "  E'ature  of  Fishes  " ;  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth 
books,  "  translated  by  John  Jones,  M.  A.,"  treat  of  the  '^  Fish- 
ing of  the  ancients." 

The  georgic  model  is  followed  in  the  opening  passages,  in 
which  the  poet  announces  his  subject  and  addresses  the  prince 
in  the  following  lines : 

I  sing  the  Natives  of  the  boundless  Main 

And  tell  what  Kinds  the  wat'ry  Depths  contain. 

Tliou,  Mighty  Prince,  whom  farthest  Shores  obey, 

Favor  the  Bard,  and  hear  the  humble  Lay; 

While  the  Muse  shows  the  liquid  Worlds  below. 

Where  throng'd  with  busie  Shoals  the  Waters  flow; 

Their  diff'ring  Forms  and  Ways  of  Life  relates; 

And  sings  their  constant  Loves,  and  constant  Hates; 

What  various  Arts  the  finny  Herds  beguile. 

And  each  cold  Secret  of  the  Fisher's  Toil. 

Intrepid  Souls !  who  pleasing  Rest  despise. 

To  whirl  in  Eddies,  and  on  Floods  to  rise; 

Who  scorn  the  safety  of  the  calmer  Shore, 

Drive  thro'  the  working  Foam,  and  ply  the  lab'ring  Oar, 

The  Deeps  they  fathom,  search  the  doubtful  Way, 

And  thro'  obscuring  Depths  pursue  the  Prey. 

The  three  modes  of  the  chase  are  described,^  but  Oppian  finds 
the  pursuit  of  sea  creatures  more  fraught  wdth  dangers  than  the 
pursuit  of  creatures  of  the  land  and  of  the  air. 

The  Fishers  labor  not  on  certain  ground 
But  in  a  leaky  boat  are  tost  around; 

they  face  the  fury  of  the  winds  and  waves,  they  meet — 

.  .  .  Vast  Whales,  and  monstrous  nameless  Kinds, 
The  slender-Avoven  Net,  vimineous  Wccl, 


«  See  above,  p.  136. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  139 

The  taper  Angle,  Line  and  barbed  Steel, 

Are  all  the  Tools  his  constant  Toil  employs; 

On  Arms  like  these  the  Fishing  Swain  relies. 

But  Fishers  live  altho  exposed  to  Harms, 

They  have  their  Pleasures,  and  the  Sea  its  Charms. 

After  a  passage  on  the  Royal  fishing  equipment,  the  poet  in 
conventional  georgic  fashion  addresses  Neptune  and  all  the 
ocean  deities,  and  then,  like  so  many  of  his  brother  singers, 
comments  upon  the  difficulty  of  his  task. 

Like  most  georgic  poets,  Oppian  decries  war.  The  following 
lines  suggest  Vergil,  but  they  read  even  more  like  the  pacifist 
sentiments  of  the  eighteenth  century: 

Fondly  we  blame  the  Rage  of  Warring  Fish, 
Who  urg'd  by  Hunger  must  supply  the  Wish; 
When  cruel  Men,  to  whom  their  ready  Food 
Kind  Earth  affords,  yet  thirst  for  human  Blood. 
Peace  grieved  by  Man,  to  brighter  Regions  fled, 
And  angry  Mars  contending  Nations  led. 
Ambitious  Youths  with  Thirst  of  Glory  fir'd 
The  proud  Deformity  of  Scars  admir'd. 
Power  uncontroll'd  maintained  the  wrongful  Cause, 
Nor  fear'd  the  weaker  Force  of  silent  Laws.* 

The  poet  then  paints  a  picture  of  the  horrors  of  misgovern- 
ment,  ending  with  a  prayer  that  the  gods  may  prolong  the 
halcyon  days  of  the  Emperor  Severus, 

Give  Rust  to  Arms,  and  Leisure  to  the  Song 

Preserve  the  Immortal  Sire  and  aid  the  Godlike  Son. 

The  third  book,  like  the  third  Georgic,  opens  with  a  statement 
of  the  subject, 

How  captive  Shoals  reward  the  Fisher's  Toils, 
What  Force  subdues,  or  specious  Fraud  beguiles, 
Attend  great  Prince,  to  thee  the  Seaborn  Muse 
A  Theme  not  foreign,  tho'  imsung,  pursues. 

An  address  to  the  Prince  follows,  then  very  much  as  Vergil 
and  the  cynegetic  poets  sum  up  the  qualities  of  the  ideal  stallion 

°Cp.  Georg.  i,  oOo  ff. ;  Somerville,  The  Chase.     See  above,  p.  131. 


140  The  Georgic 

and  the  ideal  dog,  Oppian  draws  a  portrait  of  the  toiler  who 
lives  by  pursuing  the  creatures  of  the  deep : 

First  be  the  Fisher's  Limbs  compact  and  sound, 
With  solid  Flesh  and  well-braced  Sinews  bound. 
Let  due  Proportion  ev'ry  Part  commend, 
Nor  Leanness  shrink  too  much,  nor  Fat  distend. 

Judicious  art  with  long  Experience  joyn'd 
Inform  the  ready  dictates  of  his  Mind. 

Let  Resolution  all  his  Passions  sway. 

Nor  Pleasures  charm  his  Mind,  nor  Fears  dismay. 

From  short  Repose  let  early  Vigour  rise. 

Well  let  his  Patience  and  his  Health  sustain 
Jove's  piercing  Storms,  and  Sirius'  sultry  reign. 
Let  him  with  constant  Love  the  Sea  pursue. 
With  eager  Joy  the  pleasing  Toil  renew. 
So  Thetis  shall  reward  her  faithful  Swain, 
And  all  his  Labours  please  the  God  of  Gain.'" 

Directions  are  given  as  to  the  season  and  weathers  in  which  to 
fish,  and  the  poet  emphasizes  the  necessity  of  observing  the 
winds.  Vergil's  "  certain  signs "  have  their  place  in  the 
halieutic  as  well  as  in  the  georgic  and  in  the  cynegetic. 

Four  sorts  of  fishers  are  described,  those  who  use  Hooks, 
JSTets,  Weels,  and  Tridents.  The  poet  warns  against  the  arts  by 
which  the  Fishes  cheat  the  Fishers,  and  continues  with  various 
practical  directions. 

In  the  fourth  book,  Oppian,  "  inspired,"  sings  the  loves  of 
the  fishes.  In  the  fifth  book  he  sings  mainly  of  the  ''  cetaceous 
kinds,"  concluding  with  what  might  be  described  as  a  watery 
prayer  that  the  sea  yield  tribute  to  the  "  Roman  Lord  "  and 
the  "  world  be  kept  secure  for  Ca?sar's  reign." 

Oppian  digresses  from  his  theme  frequently,  telling  many 
fables,  and  moralizing  at  length  on  such  subjects  as  Svmpathy, 
Love,  Jealousy,  Human  Industry,  the  Nature  of  Man,  the  folly 

^^  Halieutics,  iii,  45  ff. 


Didactic  Poem>s  on  Field  Sports  141 

of  trying  to  resist  the  Divine  Powers  and  so  forth. ^^  Mr. 
Jones  ^^  is  deeply  moved  by  the  ''  unaffected  "  piety  and  good 
nature  found  in  the  pages  of  the  Ilalieutica.  This  poem,  he 
writes  of  Oppian,  ''  had  we  no  other  history  of  his  Life,  would 
represent  him  to  us  under  the  amiable  character  of  a  young 
gentleman  of  the  liveliest  wit,  sweetened  with  the  most  engaging 
virtue,  and  ennobled  by  Religion.  In  all  his  Digressions  and 
Reflexions,  he  recommends  Virtue  with  so  agreeable  an  air,  and 
discountenances  Vice  after  so  moving  a  Manner,  as  shows  him 
to  have  been  the  best  good  Man,  but  far  from  having  the  Worst 
natur'd  Muse.  .  .  .  His  Moral  Reflexions  are  very  fine  and 
judicious  .  .  .  His  Religious  Sentiments,  considering  he  was 
a  Heathen,  are  very  conspicuous  in  his  account  of  Divine  Provi- 
jdence  and  the  Divine  Powers." 

Diaper  and  Jones'  translation  of  the  Halieutica  is  particularly 
valuable,  not  only  as  the  sole  English  rendering  of  the  poem,  but 
as  an  eighteenth-century  version  of  Oppian.  The  translation 
reads  very  much  like  an  original  eighteenth  century  product 
adorned,  like  almost  all  other  products  of  the  time,  by  flowers 
from  the  gardens  of  the  ancients.  Knowing  the  Halieutica  only 
thru  the  English  of  Diaper  and  Jones,  one  finds  it  a  little  hard 
to  understand  how  the  grammarian  Tzetzes,  who  paraphrased 
the  poem,  called  Oppian  an  "  ocean  of  graces."  ^^  All  poetry 
loses  by  translation;  Greek  poetry  can  certainly  not  be  judged 
by  imperfect  specimens  of  the  eighteenth  century  couplet,  since 
it  suffers  enough  from  the  best;  and  yet,  remembering  Pope's 
Homer,  translated  even  as  Nick  Bottom  was  "  translated,"  one 
reads  with  amazement  in  Mr.  Jones'  ^^  Preface  that  the  elder 
Scaliger  calls  Oppian  "  a  divine  and  incomparable  poet,  one 
skilled  in  all  Parts  of  Philosophy,  the  most  perfect  writer  among 
the  Greeks,  and  the  only  person  that  ever  came  up  to  Vergil." 
Standards  of  taste  change,  but  the  praise  of  divine  beauty  en- 

"  Cp.  Deyeux,  "  Garnet  du  Chassomane."     See  above,  p.  134. 
"  Op.  cit,  p.  7. 

"  Cp.  the  Bibl.  pref .  to  Walton  and  Cotton,  op.  cit.,  p.  xx. 
"  Op.  cit. 


142  The  Georgic 

dures.  Hence  one  feels  that  there  is  some  slight  lack  of  under- 
standing on  the  part  of  Mr.  Jones  when  he  writes,  "  Indeed,  I 
know  not  how  it  happens,  but  there  is  scarce  any  of  the  ancients 
that  deserves  more  or  meets  with  less  regard." 

2.    John  Dennys'  "  Secrets  of  Angling  " 

From  the  time  of  Oppian  of  Cicilia  until  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  I  am  acquainted  with  no  didactic  poem 
of  importance  on  the  fisherman's  art.  I  know  of  only  two  w^orks 
in  which  the  subject  is  treated  to  any  extent  from  the  technical 
point  of  view.  One  is  the  Latin  Be  Vetula  or  De  Vitula  written 
in  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century  by  Richard  de  Four- 
nival.^^  A  record  of  the  different  modes  of  fishing  with  worm, 
fly,  torch  and  spear,  night  lines  and  so  forth  is  said  to  be  found 
in  this  poem.^®  Piers  of  Fulham's  Vayne  conseytes  of  folysche 
love  undyr  colour  of  fysching  and  fowling,  ascribed  to  the  year 
1420,^'^  is,  as  the  title  indicates,  allegorical  in  character.  There 
is  nothing  of  the  georgic  in  it  except  some  interesting  informa- 
tion concerning  the  arts  of  fishing  and  fowling.  The  following 
lines  may  give  an  idea  of  the  poet's  manner : 

But  in  rennyng  ryvers  that  bee  commone 

There  will  I  fisshe  and  take  my  fortune 

Wyth  nettys  and  with  angle  hookys, 

And  large  weris  and  spenteris  in  narrow  brookys. 

The  year  1613  begins  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  halieutic. 
There  was  published  at  this  time  in  London,  the  first  poetical 
treatise  on  the  gentle  craft,  John  Dennys'  Secrets  of  Angling,^^ 
a  poem  that  has  been  occasionally  imitated,  but  never  equalled. 

"  See  above,  p.  29.  "  See  Manly,  op.  cit.,  p.  563. 

"  See  above,  p.  29. 

"Little  is  known  of  the  life  of  John  Dennys.  He  lived  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Pucklehurst,  Gloucestershire,  and  was  buried  at  Pucklehurst,  1609. 
That  he  was  the  author  of  the  Secrets  was  not  discovered  until  1811.  In 
the  first  chapter  of  the  Complete  Angler,  Izaak  Walton  quotes  five  stanzas 
from  the  Secrets.  At  first  Walton  ascribed  the  stanzas  to  Jo.  Da.  Later 
Jo.  Da.  was  altered  to  Jo.  Davors.  Otht-s  had  ascribed  the  lines  to  Donne 
or  Davies.     These  verses  are  said  to  liave  been  attributed  to  at  least  six 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  143 

John  Dennys  may  have  read  Oppian  of  Cilicia,  or  he  may 
not.  He  was  certainly  acquainted  with  the  classics,  but  his 
verses  give  no  conclusive  evidence  that  he  knew  the  Ilalieutics 
of  the  ancients.  Altho  he  claims  no  debt  to  Vergil,  his  poem  is 
undoubtedly  modeled  to  some  extent  on  the  Georgics;  but  this 
belated  sixteenth  century  imitation  has  none  of  the  faults  so 
conspicuous  in  the  eighteenth  century  Vergilian  imitations. 
Dennys  evidently  drew  his  inspiration  in  part  from  the  Man- 
tuan ;  but  it  is  an  inspiration  that  breathes  in  the  English  poet's 
verse,  not  a  distorted  mask  of  the  Latin  singer,  l)ut  an  English 
creation  living  and  lovely. 

The  introductory  note  of  Roger  Jackson,  the  publisher,  to  the 
edition  of  1613,  is  worth  reading,  for  it  is  marked  by  truths 
and  is  otherwise  pertinent  to  the  subject.  Jackson  states  that 
the  author  intended  to  print  the  Secrets  in  his  life,  but  was 
prevented  by  death.  The  publisher  adds  of  the  poem,  "'  I  find 
it  not  only  savouring  of  Art  and  Honesty,  two  things  now 
strangers  unto  many  authors,  but  also  both  pleasant  and  profit- 
able ;  and  being  loth  to  see  a  thing  of  such  value  lie  hidden  in 
obscurity,  whilst  matters  of  no  moment  pester  the  stalls  of  every 
stationer,  I  therefore  make  bold  to  publish  it  for  the  benefit  and 
delight  of  all,  trusting  that  I  shall  neither  disparage  the  author 
nor  dislike  them. 

"  I  need  not,  I  think,  apologize  for  either  the  use  of  the 
subject  or  for  that  it  is  reduced  into  the  nature  of  a  poem ;  for 
as  touching  the  last,  in  that  it  is  in  verse,  some  count  it  by  so 
much  the  more  delightful ;  and  I  hold  it  every  way  as  fit  a 
subject  for  poetry  as  Husbandry.  And  touching  the  first,  if 
Hunting  and  Hawking  have  been  thought  worthy  delights  and 
arts  to  be  instructed  in,  I  make  no  doubt  but  that  this  art  of 
Angling  is  much  more  worthy  practice  and  approbation ;  for  it 

poets  of  the  name  of  Davies,  due  no  doubt  to  the  fact  that  J.  D.'s  poem 
•wais  prefaced  by  certain  commendatorj^  verses  signed  Jo.  Daves.  The  Se- 
crets of  Angling  was  reprinted  in  Arber's  English  Garner,  vol.  I,  1877. 
More  valuable  editions  are  those  of  T.  Westwood,  London,  W.  Satchell  and 
Co.,  1883,  and  that  of  Piscator,  Biblioteca  Curiosa.  Privately  Printed, 
Edinburgh,  1885.     For  other  editions  see  Westwood's  Introduction,  p.  6. 


144  The  Georgic 

is  a  sport  every  way  as  pleasant,  less  chargeable,  more  profitable, 
and  nothing  so  much  subject  to  choler  and  impatience  as  those 
are.  You  shall  find  it  more  briefly,  pleasantly,  and  exactly  per- 
formed than  any  of  this  kind  heretofore." 

The  Secrets  of  Angling  may  be  described  as  a  piscatory  poem 
of  the  georgic  type,  written  in  three  books,  in  eight-line  stanzas 
of  heroic  measure,  the  first  six  verses  riming  alternately,  the 
last  two  making  a  couplet.  Dennys  has  no  eulogies  of  the  great, 
he  has  no  address  to  a  patron,  no  reference  to  famous  historical 
characters,  no  device  of  foreign  contrast,  no  panegj^ric  to  Great 
Britain.  In  other  respects,  however,  he  skilfully  follows  the 
Vergilian  conventions;  and  altho  he  does  not  sing  the  praises 
of  Great  Britain,  the  Muses  seem  to  have  granted  to  him  as  truly 
as  to  Vergil  the  love  of  his  native  fields  and  rivers. 

The  first  book  has  the  conventional  georgic  opening ;  but  after 
stating  his  subject,  the  author  adds  a  characteristic  explanation 
of  the  nature  of  his  work : 

Of  Angling,  and  the  Art  thereof  I  sing, 

What  kind  of  tools  it  doth  behove  to  have; 

And  with  what  pleasing  bait  a  man  may  bring 

The  fish  to  bite  within  the  wat'ry  wave. 

A  work  of  thanks  to  svich  as  in  a  thing 

Of  harmless  pleasure,  have  regard  to  save 

Their  dearest  souls  from  sin;  and  may  intend 
Of  precious  time,  some  part  therein  to  spend. 

A  charming  and  appropriate  invocation  to  the  water  nymphs 
follows ;  after  Avhich  there  is  an  even  more  charming  address  to 
the  brook  "  Sweet  Boyd." 

More  "  profitable,"  but  still  pleasant,  are  the  poet's  instruc- 
tions concerning  his  art.  Vergil  gives  detailed  precepts  regard- 
ing the  implements  of  the  farmer's  toil.  Dennys  discourses  of 
the  implements  of  angling ;  when  to  provide  them,  how  to  select 
and  care  for  them.  He  even  gives  practical  advice  as  to  the 
garments  of  the  Angler.  But  however  homely  his  subject  matter, 
his  verse  is  rarely  prosaic,  and  charming  comparisons  and 
pleasant  episodes  are  skillfully  interwoven  with  his  precepts. 
The  "  Answer  to  the  Objection,"  tho  meant  as  a  defense  of  the 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  145 

fisherman's  art,  is  really  a  rhapsody  in  praise  of  country  life, 
written  with  the  enthusiasm  of  a  lover  of  nature,  and  the 
reflexion  of  a  religious  philosopher.  Some  youthful  gallant, 
admits  the  poet,  will  cry,  perhaps,  that  it  is  a  silly  pastime  to 
endure  the  toils  and  troubles  of  fishing,  rather  than  to  walk  the 
streets  in  ''  nice  array,"  to  dance  and  sport  and  gamble  in  the 
toAvn.     Very  wise  and  very  gentle  is  the  "  Reply," 

I  mean  not  here  men's  errours  to  reprove, 
Nor  do  en%'y  their  seeming  happy  state; 
But  rather  marvel  why  they  do  not  love 
An  honest  sport  that  is  without  debate; 
Since  their  abused  pastimes  often  move 
Their  minds  to  anger  and  to  mortal  hate; 

And  as  in  bad  delights  their  time  they  spend, 

So  oft  it  brings  them  to  no  better  end. 

Quite  as  convincing  in  its  own  lesser  fashion  as  Vergil's 
contrast  between  the  joys  and  virtues  of  the  country,  the  vices 
and  vanities  of  the  city,  is  Dennys'  contrast  between  the  w^hole- 
some  and  happy  recreation  of  the  fisherman  and  the  miserable 
existence  of  the  society  trifler.  Were  it  not  for  the  phrasing  of 
John  Dennys,  simple  and  forcible  (in  spite  of  occasional 
padding),  one  might  fancy  himself  listening  to  some  moralizing 
poet  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  following  lines  are  one  of 
the  most  interesting  of  the  many  variations  of  Vergil's  Prayer 
to  the  Muses :  ^^ 

O  let  me  rather  on  the  pleasant  brink 
Of  Tyne  and  Trent  possess  some  dwelling-place; 
Where  I  may  see  my  quill  and  cork  down  sink 
With  eager  bite  of  barbel,  bleek  or  dace: 
And  on  the  world  and  the  Creator  think, 
While  they  proud  Thais'  painted  sheet  embrace; 

Let  them  that  list  these  pastimes  then  pursue 
And  on  their  pleasing  fancies  feed  their  fill; 
So  I  the  fields  and  meadows  green  may  view. 
And  by  the  rivers  fresh  may  walk  at  will, 
Among  the  daisies  and  the  violets  blue. 
Red  hyacinth  and  yellow  daffodil, 


"Cp.  Georg.  ii,  483-4. 
10 


146  The  Georgic 

Purple  narcissus  like  the  morning  rays, 
Pale  ganderglass  and  azure  culverkeys. 

I  count  it  better  pleasure  to  behold 
The  goodly  compass  of  the  lofty  sky; 

The  hills  and  mountains  raised  from  the  plains, 

The  rivers  making  way  through  Nature's  chain,  ^ 

With  headlong  course  into  the  sea  profound. 
The  surging  sea  beneath  the  valleys  low, 
The  valleys  sweet,  and  lakes  that  lovely  flow. 

The  lofty  woods,  the  forests  wide  and  long, 
Adorned  with  leaves  and  branches  fresh  and  green; 
In  whose  cool  bowers  the  birds  with  chanting  joy 
Do  welcome  with  their  quire  the  Summer's  Queen: 
The  meadows  fair  where  Flora's  gifts  among, 
Are  intermixed  the  verdant  grass  between ; 

The  silver-scaled  fish  that  softly  swim 

Within  the  brooks  and  crystal  watry  brim. 

The  final  stanza  of  the  "'  Reply  "  has  a  rapturous  note  of 
religious  joy  in  the  things  of  the  outward  world.  Almost  a 
mystic,  it  seems,  was  John  Dennys. 

All  these  and  many  more  of  His  creation 

That  made  the  heavens,  the  Angler  oft  doth  see; 

And  takes  therein  no  little  delectation  . 

To  think  how  strange  and  wonderful  they  be; 

Framing  thereof  an  inward  contemplation 

To  set  his  thoughts  from  other  fancies  free, 

And  while  he  looks  on  these  with  joyful  eye. 

His  mind  is  rapt  above  the  starry  sky. 

In  a  pleasant  episode  the  poet  recounts  the  origin  of  the  Art 
of  Angling,  an  innocent  variation  of  the  Deucalion  myth.  When 
the  new  race  of  men  sprang  from  stones  after  the  Deluge  there 
was  no  food  for  them,  so  Deucalion  invented  the  art  of  angling 
and  taught  it  to  his  people.  Here  the  poet  naively  works  in  the 
theme  of  the  Golden  Age,  which,  he  states,  was  a  time  when  it 
was  easy  to  angle,  for  the  fish  had  not  then  been  frightened  of 
wicked  men. 

After  having  traced  the  varied  stages  of  his  art  the  poet 
announces  that  his  weary  Muse  must  rest,  and  "  breathe  or  pause 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  147 

a  little  at  the  least,"  a  coucliisiou  suggesting  the  last  two  lines  of 
the  second  Georgic. 

The  opening  of  the  second  book  of  the  Secrets  recalls  the 
beginning  of  the  second  Georgic. 

Before  I  taught  what  kind  of  tools  were  fit 
For  him  to  have,  that  would  an  Angler  be; 
And  how  he  should  with  practice  and  with  wit 
Provide  himself  thereof  in  best  degree: 
Xoic  doth  remain  to  show  how  to  the  bit 
The  fishes  may  be  brought  that  erst  were  free ; 

And  with  what  pleasing  baits  enticed  they  are, 

To  swallow  down  the  hidden  hook  un'ware. 

The  poet  declares  that  he  will  not  meddle  with  the  great  whale 
that  hid  the  man  of  God  inside  him  for  three  whole  days,  nor 
with  the  Ork  that  would  have  devoured  Andromeda.  He  enum- 
erates other  great  fish  of  which  he  will  not  sing,  then  proceeds  to 
name  the  various  sorts  for  which  one  can  angle,  making  his  list 
with  a  grace  and  skill  not  unworthy  of  his  Master. 

In  writing  of  the  gudgeon  he  makes  an  observation  that  proves 
his  understanding  of  the  first  principles  of  the  art  of  teaching: 

This  fish  the  fittest  for  a  learner  is 

That  in  this  Art  delights  to  take  some  pain; 

For  as  high-flying  hawks  that  often  miss 

The  swifter  fowls,  are  eased  with  a  train; 

So  to  a  young  beginner  yieldeth  this, 

Such  ready  sport  as  makes  him  prove  again; 

And  leads  him  on  with  hope  and  glad  desire, 

To  greater  skill  and  cunning  to  aspire. 

Musing  on  the  capture  of  the  Dace,  he  shows  characteristic 
georgic  realization  of  the  dangers  that  lurk  always  in  attendance 
on  the  joys  of  life, 

0  world's  deceit!  how  are  we  thralled  by  thee. 
Thou  dost  thy  gall  in  sweetest  pleasures  hide ! 
^Vlien  most  we  think  in  happiest  state  to  be. 
Then  do  we  soonest  into  danger  slide. 
Behold  the  fish  that  even  now  was  free. 
Unto  the  deadly  hook  how  is  he  tied ! 

So  vain  delights  allure  us  to  the  snare. 

Wherein  un'wares  we  fast  entangled  are. 


148  The  Georgic 

Writing  of  the  Sewant  and  the  Flounder,  with  poetic  incon- 
sistency the  poet  who  has  but  just  sung  the  Golden  Age  as  a 
time  when  jfish  were  easily  caught  now  pauses  to  reflect  upon 
the  cruel  inequality  of  life  in  watery  ways : 

Unequal  fate!  that  some  are  born  to  be 
Fearful  and  mild,  and  for  the  rest  a  prey; 
And  others  are  ordained  to  live  more  free, 
Without  control  or  danger  anyway. 

The  poet  then  describes  various  kinds  of  baits  for  various 
fishes,  with  directions  as  to  the  manner  of  bestowing  hook  and 
bait  in  the  different  seasons.  The  concluding  fancy  is  not  inap- 
propriate : 

But  Phoebus  now  beyond  the  western  Ind, 
Beginneth  to  descend  and  draweth  low; 
And  well  the  weather  serves,  and  gentle  wind, 
Down  with  the  tide  and  pleasant  stream  to  row, 

Unto  some  place  where  we  may  rest  us  in. 

Until  we  shall  another  time  begin.'"' 

The  third  book  treats  of  "  the  chief  and  fittest  seasons  "  for 
angling,  but  before  the  poet  gives  his  instructions  in  detail  he 
decides  that — 

It  shall  behove 
To  show  what  gifts  and  qualities  of  mind 
Belong  to  him  that  doth  the  pastime  love. 

Handsome  rods,  hooks  of  divers  sorts,  well-twisted  lines,  the 
finest  tools  avail  nothing  if  the  fisherman  lacks  certain  necessary 
gifts  of  mind.  Twelve  virtues  he  must  have :  Faith  and  Hope 
and  "  Love  and  liking  to  the  game,"  Patience  to  bear  mishaps, 
and  Humility  to  stoop  or  kneel,  Strength,  and  Courage,  and 
Liberality  to  feed  the  fishes  often,  to  draw  them  near  like  the 
ancient  hospitality  that  "  sometime  dwelt  in  Albion's  fertile 
land,"  whence  it  is  now  banished,  along  with  kindred  virtues 
usually  banished  in  the  degenerate  times  that  appear  to  have 
begotten  georgic  poetry.  The  Angler  must  have,  also,  Knowl- 
edge to  make  the  fish  bite  when  they  are  dull  and  slow,  he  must 

*•  Cp.  the  concluding  stanza  of  the  Faerie  Queen,  Bk.  i. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  149 

have  Placability  of  Mind,  he  must  have  Thanks  to  that  God  who 
doth  send  both  fish  and  fowl, 

And  still  reserves  enough  in  secret  store 
To  please  the  rich  and  to  relieve  the  poor. 

The  eleventh  qualification  of  the  good  Angler  is  Fasting  long 
from  all  superfluous  fare,  the  twelfth  and  last.  Memory,  not  to 
forget  to  take  all  things  needful  for  the  craft. 

Dennys'  lines  suggest  Oppian's  portrait  of  the  ideal  fisher,^^ 
but  the  English  poet's  angler  is  certainly  not  a  copy  of  the  Greek 
who  gains  his  precarious  living  from  the  seas.  Both  must  have 
strength  and  courage,  but  beyond  this  the  resemblance  does 
not  go. 

The  Angler  must  choose  weather  that  is  neither  too  hot  nor 
too  cold.    He  must  not  fish  at  fleece-washing  time,  nor  at  flood ; 

Nor  when  the  leaves  hegin  to  fall  apace, 
While  Nature  doth  her  former  work  deface, 
Unclothing  bush  or  tree  of  summer's  green."'' 

The  best  hours  of  the  day  are  from  sunrise  to  nine  o'clock. 

So  lovely  is  the  poet's  dawn  that  the  reader  feels  the  stir  of 

longing  to  arise  and  go  with  the  gentle  Master  Angler  through 

the  pleasant  fields,  amidst  sweet  pastures,  meadows  fresh  and 

sound, 

Wlien  fair  Aurora  rising  early  shows 
Her  blushing  face  among  the  Eastern  hills, 
And  dyes  the  heavenly  vault  with  purple  rows 
That  far  abroad  the  world  with  brightness  fills; 
The  meadows  green  or  hoar  with  silver  dews 
That  on  the  earth  the  sable  night  distils, 

And  chanting  birds  with  merry  notes  bewray 

The  near  approaching  of  the  cheerful  day. 

Each  fish's  favorite  haunt  is  described  for  the  benefi.t  of  the 
Angler,  who  must  learn  to  know  such  lurking  places.  Then 
advice  is  given  concerning  all  the  hours  when  the  Angler  may 

^  See  above,  p.  140. 
"Cp.  Georg.  ii,  403. 

Ac  iam  olim  aeraa  posuit  cum  vinea  frondes 
frigidus  et  silvis  Aquilo  decussit  honorem. 


150  The  Georgic 

and  may  not  fish ;  and  lest  he  may  forget  his  tools  a  short  lesson 
is  given  to  assist  the  memory.  And  now,  sings  the  poet,  we  are 
arrived  at  the  last 

In  wished  harbour,  where  we  wear  to  rest, 

And  make  an  end  of  this  our  journey  past: 

Here  then  in  quiet  road  I  think  it  best 

We  strike  our  sails  and  steadfast  anchor  cast, 

For  now  the  sun  low  setteth  in  the  West, 

And  ye  boatswains!  a  merry  carol  sing 

To  him  that  safely  did  us  hither  bring.** 

Considering  Roger  Jackson's  statement  that  the  author 
intended  to  publish  the  Secrets  before  his  death,  "Westwood  ^^ 
observes :  "  Perhaps  he  was  withheld  by  some  f aintness  of  heart 
and  some  wisdom  of  reticence.  The  epoch  was  a  trying  one  for 
the  minor  muse.  The  elder  bards  were  dying  out,  but  the 
national  air  still  vibrated  to  their  divine  singing.  It  was  hardly 
strange  that  a  poet  unknown  to  fame  hesitated  to  bring  forth 
his  simple  song  of  bleek  and  bream."  Yet  it  is  the  simplicity 
of  the  song  that  makes  its  chai"m — simplicity  alike  of  diction 
and  of  spirit.  The  childlike  joy  in  outdoor  things,  the  early 
morning  quality  of  the  poem,  reflect  something  of  the  life  and 
glow  of  the  earlier  Elizabethans.  John  Dennys  makes  the 
didactic  poets  of  the  eighteenth  century  seem  world-weary  and 
gentimental.  Thomson,  who  loved  to  lie  abed  till  noon,  writes 
feelingly  of  the  beauties  of  the  dawn,  but  John  Dennys,  at  least 
in  the  angling  season,  lived  among  the  meadows  and  streams  of 
which  he  sings,  and  he  rejoiced  in  the  outdoor  world  from  sun- 

^^  These  lines  echo  very  closely  the  concluding  stanza  of  the  first  book  of 
the  Faerie  Queen, 

Now  strike  your  sailes,  yee  jolly  Mariners, 

For  we  be  come  unto  a  quiet  rode, 

Where  we  must  land  some  of  our  passengers, 

And  light  this  weary  vessell  of  her  lode; 

Here  she  a  while  may  make  her  safe  abode. 

Till  she  repaired  have  her  tackles  spent. 

And  wants  supplide;   and  then  .againe  abroad 

On  the  long  voiage  whereto  she  is  bent : 

Well  may  she  speede,  and  fairly  finish  her  intent! 

'^Op.  cit.,  p.  1. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  151 

rise  to  sunset.  His  raoralizings  arc  quaint  and  pleasant^  and 
sometimes  wise,  suited  to  one  wlio  loved  the  gentle  craft.  His 
poem  is  not  a  glorification  of  toil,  but  it  calls  alluringly  to  the 
joys  of  country  life.  There  is  in  it  a  spirit  that  Vergil  himself 
could  not  but  have  loved. 

William  Lauson  ^^  remarks  of  the  Secrets  of  Angling,  "  The 
Author  by  verse  hath  expressed  much  Learning,  and  by  his 
Answer  to  the  Objection  shows  himself  to  have  been  Virtuous. 
The  subject  itself  is  honest  and  pleasant ;  and  sometimes  profit- 
able. Use  it  and  give  God  all  glory.  Amen."  A  comment 
written  with  judgment  that  one  appreciates  all  the  more  after 
having  read  the  Secrets  in  contrast  w^ith  the  dreary  dullness  of 
the  great  body  of  georgic  poetry.  The  Secrets  of  Angling  is  not 
a  great  poem,  but  it  should  hold  an  honoured  place  for  sweetness 
of  verse,  for  its  beauty  of  description  and  for  the  lessons  that 
the  poet  so  gently  and  happily  teaches.  That  this  slight  work 
has  any  importance  in  the  history  of  English  literature  one  can 
hardly  say.  Certainly,  in  the  history  of  fishing  literature  no 
writer  has  graced  his  subject  with  lovelier  lines.  John  Denny s 
must  always  hold  an  unrivaled  place  in  the  angler's  library. 
Many  readers  have  felt  his  poem's  charm ;  lovers  of  poetry  as 
well  as  lovers  of  the  gentle  craft  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  its 
rescue  from  oblivion. 

3.    Later  Seventeenth-Century  Didactic  Poems  on  Angling 

From  John  Dennys'  Secrets  to  Barker's  Delight  is,  undoubt- 
edly, a  descent.  However,  I  do  not  know  of  any  writer  after 
Dennys  who  treated  the  theme  of  angling  in  didactic  verse,  until 
in  1657  Thomas  Barker  produced  a  small  volume  which  bears 
the  full  title.  Barker's  Delight,  or  the  Art  of  Angling.  This  is 
a  w^ork  "  Wherein  are  discovered  many  rare  secrets  very  neces- 
sary to  be  known  by  all  that  delight  in  that  Recreation,  both  for 
catching  the  Fish,   and  dressing  thereof,"  a  quaintly  written 

"  Comments  on  the  "  Secrets  of  Angling,"  Arber's  English  Qarner,  West- 
minster, Arcliibald  Constable  &  Co.,  1903,  p.  237. 


152  The  Georgic 

book  of  prose  instructions  interspersed  with  bits  of  verse. 
Evidently  Thomas  Barker  was  not  less  skilled  as  a  cook  than 
as  an  angler.  He  appears  less  gifted  as  a  poet.  However,  his 
verses  have  the  merit  of  simplicity,  and  his  instructions  are 
generally  to  the  point.  I  quote  a  specimen  to  show  the  author's 
manner : 

.  .  .  Your  lines  may  be  strong,  but  must  not  be  longer  than  your  rod. 

The  rod  light  and  taper,  thy  tackle  fine. 

Thy  lead  two  inches  upon  the  line; 

Bigger  or  lesse,  according  to  the  stream, 

Angle  in  the  dark,  when  others  dream. 

Or  in  a  cloudy  day  with  a  lively  worm. 

The  Bradlin  is  best;  but  give  him  a  turn 

Before  thou  do  land  a  large  well    grown  trout, 

And  if  with  a  fly  thou  wilt  have  a  bout 

Overload  not  with  links,  that  the  fly  may  fall 

First  on  the  stream  for  that's  all  in  all. 

The  line  shorter  than  the  rod,  with  a  natural  fly; 

But  the  chief  point  of  all  is  the  cookery. 

Following  a  section  of  prose  instructions  on  frying  trouts,  he 

is  inspired  to  rime  on  the  subject  of  the  making  of  restorative 

broth  of  trouts,  ending  with  the  naive  piece  of  biographical 

information : 

for  forty  years  I 

In  Ambassadors'  kitchens  learned  my  cookery. 
The  French  and  Italian  no  better  can  doe. 
Observe  well  my  rules  and  you'll  say  so  too. 

The  following  lines  suggest  Mother  Goose : 

Close  to  the  bottom  in  the  midst  of  the  water, 
I  fished  for  a  Salmon  and  there  I  caught  her. 

The    final   effusion    treats    of   baits,    then    closes   with   the 
following : 

But  when  of  all  sorts  thou  hast  thy  wish. 
Follow  Barker's  advice  to  cook  the  fish; 
Think  then  of  the  gatehouse  for  near  it  lives  he, 
Who  kindly  will  teach  thee  to  make  the  flye; 
And  if  thou  live  by  a  river  side. 
Believe  thou  thy  friend  who  often  hath  tried 
And  brought  store  of  fish  as  sheep  to  the  pen, 
But  friend  let  me  tell  thee  once  agen. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Fi-eld  Sports  153 

His  art  to  keep  thee  both  warm  and  dry 
Deserveth  thy  love  perpetually, 
He  names  three  men  to  thee,  like  a  good  friend, 
Make  use  of  them  all,  and  so  I  end. 

In  the  last  decade  of  the  seventeenth  century  there  are  found 
two  new  efforts  in  verse  on  the  subject  of  fishing;  in  1692,  a 
Latin  poem  entitled  Piscatio,  by  the  Reverend  S.  Ford,  D.  D, ; 
in  1697,  The  Innocent  Epicure:  or  the  Art  of  Angling,  believed 
to  have  been  written  by  IN'ahuni  Tate.  The  former  was 
inscribed  to  Archbishop  Sheldon  and  first  appeared  in  the  first 
volume  of  the  Musae  AngUcanae.  According  to  Manly,^^  it  has 
been  translated  and  variously  adapted.  The  chief  features  of 
the  Innocent  Epicure,  says  Manly,  are  its  antithetical  sentences 
and  smooth  periods.  John  Whitney  praises  the  author  of  this 
poem  as  an  abler  artist  than  himself,  but  if  one  must  judge 
from  the  following  couplet  quoted  by  Manly,  the  writer  certainly 
anticipates  the  worst  products  of  the  eighteenth  century: 

Go  on  my  Muse,  next  let  thy  niunbers  speak. 
The  mighty  Nimrod  of  the  streams,  the  Pike. 

The  product  must,  however,  have  made  some  appeal  to  readers 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  for  a  second  edition  appeared  in  1713, 
a  third  as  the  Art  of  Angling,  in  1741. 

4.    Eighteenth-Century  Didactic  Poems  on  Fishing 

John  Whitney's  The  Geriteel  Recreation,  or  the  Pleasures  of 
Angling,  A  Poem,  with  a  Dialogue  hetween  Piscator  and  Cory- 
don  was  published  in  1700,-'''  shortly  after  the  appearance  of  the 
Innocent  Epicure.  It  is  "  a  little  treatise,"  which,  says  the 
writer  in  his  preface,  he  composed  "  for  his  own  pleasure."  He 
knows  that  there  be  many  abler  artists,  especially  that  ingenious 

**  Op.  cit. 

"  An  extremely  rare  book,  originally  printed  for  the  author,  of  wTiom 
nothing  is  known  except  that  he  was  the  son  of  Captain  Whitney,  who  com- 
manded one  of  the  ships  that  accompanied  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  on  his  voyage 
to  Guinea.  One  hundred  copies  were  printed  of  the  first  edition,  one  hundred 
copies  reprinted  in  1820  for  J.  Burn,  Maiden  Lane,  Covent  Garden. 


154  The  Georgic 

author  of  the  Innocent  Epicure.  But  he  has  taken  nothing  from 
him  nor  from  others  who  "  have  wrote  of  the  Art  of  Angling." 
He  thinks  his  own  experience  best  to  display  his  own  thoughts, 
which  he  has  done  in  a  kind  of  rambling  way.  His  thoughts 
sometimes  run  on  the  Muse  as  well  as  on  the  Fishes,  for  which 
reason  he  uses  verse,  most  of  which  was  composed  by  the  river- 
side in  such  seasons  the  Fish  did  not  yield  the  pleasure  he 
expected. 

The  poem  is  divided  into  four  irregular  parts,  written  in 
irregular  and  halting  verse,  the  first  an  Introduction — a  reflec- 
tion on  the  happiness  of  the  "  Man  blest  with  a  moderate  state  " 
secured  to  him  by  "  Law's  strong  Adamantine  chains."   So  blest, 

He  gently  can  survey  his  Meads,  and  be 
Spectator  of  his  own  felicity; 

Those  curious  meads, 

New  pleasure  breeds, 

A  purling  Brook  just  by, 

Where  the  Inhabitants 

Of  all  the  watery  Elements, 

Strive  Nature  to  outvie. 
Those  various  Beauties  which  the  Medows  breed, 
The  watery  fry  in  spangled  glory  far  exceed. 
While  carking  cares  that  do  the  mind  oppress. 
By  Men  unwary  of  their  Happiness, 
Clog'd  with  the  burden  of  Domestic  cares, 

May  here  dispel  those  lingering  fears. 
And  learn  new  Joys,  observing  of  the  fry. 

The  second  part  consists  of  twenty-nine  lines  in  which  the 
poet  sings  of  the  true  content  begotten  by  the  angler  who  cannot 
be  enticed  from  his  delight  by  bags  of  gold. 

The  third  Part  tells  in  sixty-seven  lines  of  the  taking  of  the 
Pike.    It  opens  with  the  following  couplet : 

Now  with  the  Tyrant  of  the  Silver  stream, 

I  first,  kind  Maro,  will  begin  my  Angling  Theme. 

The  thought  of  the  "  voracious  Appetite  "  of  the  "  Tyrant  " 
enkindles  the  poet's  fervour  to  fresh  delight.    Thus  he  sings : 

When  fair  Aurora  leaves  her  dark  cavern 
And  Sol's  uprising  first  I  can  discern, 
Shaking  the  moisture  from  his  dew'y  locks 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  155 

To  set  a  Lustre  on  a  Thousand  Lady  Smocks 
Enameling  the  Medow  fair  and  bright, 
But  just  reliev'd  from  the  terrours  of  the  night, 
I  march  along  .  .  . 

After  which  pleasant  description  the  poet  proceeds  to  instruct 
his  reader  in  such  practical  details  of  the  art  as  poles,  baits,  the 
haunts  and  habits  of  different  fishes. 

The  fourth  Part  consists  of  fifty-one  pages  that  treat  of 
angling  in  general.  Thinking  perhaps  of  Vergil's  device  of 
describing  foreign  lands,  the  poet  mentions  various  localities 
which  are  for  diverse  reasons  to  be  frequented  or  shunned  by 
the  angler.  With  some  of  these  places  he  has  had  pleasant  or 
curious  experiences.  Recalling  a  creature  peculiar  to  Eton 
Bridge,  the  author  describes  him  in  the  following  remarkable 
fashion : 

Roach-like  scales,  of  burning  gold, 

That  shine  like  mettle  from  Pactolus  rolled, 

Nameless  he  is,  till  some  more  fruitful  pen 

Describes  his  wondrous  make,  like  Adam  when 

Baptizing  Creatures  with  Immortal  Names. 

The  glory  of  great  Medway  and  more  silver  Thames. 

In  an  apostrophe  to  his  friend  Streatfield,  the  poet  introduces 
a  georgic  feature;  georgic  is,  also,  the  appeal  with  which  he 
introduces  his  account  of  the  Trout, 

Muse,  sing  now  the  Trout,  with  all  his  Arts, 
His  haunts,  his  motion,  and  his  sudden  starts, 
When  e'er  a  curious  fly  drops  in  the  stream; 
Make  him  thy  choice,  and  choose  from  him  thy  theam. 

Discoursing  of  the  fishes'  -^sculapius,  the  author  digresses 
on  the  subject  of  physicians.  He  then  justifies  his  craft,  reflect- 
ing that  Angling  was  sent  by  Heaven  in  order  that  by  destroying 
those  that  would  prey  upon  them,  man  may  give  to  some  of  the 
fishes  longer  life. 

The  "  patient  Muse"  is  requested  to  raise  her  fancy  once 
again  and  sing  of  eels.  As  almost  nothing  seems  to  exhaust  her 
patience  the  reader  is  regaled  with  this  choice  subject ;  in  the 
discussion  of  which  the  poet  gives  an  account  of  eel  fishing  at 
night  that  introduces  the  georgic  reflexion, 


156  The  Georgic 

A  rustic  with  a  flambeau  in  his  hand 
Goes  like  a  Page  of  Honor  through  the  Strand 
When  Madam  she's  retiring  from  the  Play  to  Ck)urt, 
Cloy'd  with  vain  repetitions  of  an  Idle  Sport, 

Vain  is  that  pleasure  yields  us  no  delight, 

But  dulls  our  over-clouded  appetite.^ 

Perhaps  no  more  sincere  tribute  has  been  paid  to  Vergil  than 
the  following: 

Now  see,  sweet  Maro,  of  the  Pearch,  I  sing, 
And  dedicate  to  thee,  who  art  the  Muses  King, 

My  solemn  Theme; 
Assist  me  then. 

Recorder  of  the  Acts  of  God  and  Men, 
Lest  that  my  trembling  Pen  in  vain  essay 
Ignis  Fatuus  like,  lost  in  uncertain  way. 
Had  I  thy  genius,  then  my  quill  should  raise 
Immortal  glory  to  thy  name  with  praise, 
While  thou,  blest  Hero,  to  the  Gods  conjoyned. 
And,  by  eternal  love,  to  Man  combin'd. 
Shows  us  the  Paths  of  Virtue  how  to  tread. 
And  magnify  the  Glory  of  the  Dead. 
For  thou  alone 
Hast  further  gone 
In  thine  Immortal  lays 
Than  all  the  scribbling  Poets  in  our  last  declining  days. 

The  author  emphasizes  the  forgotten  proverb  that 

No  Angler  ought  to  swear. 
The  least  of  oaths  the  Fishes  soon  will  scare, 
And  imprecations  too  make  them  the  bait  forbear. 

Giving  an  account  of  his  luck  at  sport,  Whitnej  modestly  and 
piously  remarks : 

Angler,  had  you  been  there  you'd  far'd  as  well  as  I, 
For  Heaven's  bounty  Heaven  be  prais'd  eternally. 

Writing  of  the  voracious  Chub,  he  pauses  to  moralize  thus  on 
vain  Pride: 

Excess  is  hurtful. 

Who  covet  all,  but  little  can  enjoy; 


**'Cp.  John  Dennys  on  the  life  of  the  "Youthful  Gallant,"  Arber's  Eng. 
Gamer,  p.  201. 


Didactic  Poems  cm  Field  Sports  157 

And  much,  to  some's  esteemed  the  meanest  toy, 
Alexander  conquered  all,  yet  sighing  wept. 
Saladinc's  victories  ended  in  a  shirt. 

A  curious  episode  relating  to  the  Bleak,  sounds  like  an  inno- 
cent parody  on  Aristaeus  and  his  bees.  Beelzebub  resenting  the 
depopulation  of  his  Kingdom,  complains  to  his  wife.  Neptune 
is  interviewed,  and  is  about  to  starve  the  fishes,  when  a  Bleak 
appears  and  brings  about  an  amicable  settlement.  The  writer 
incidentally  indulges  in  some  amiable  satire  on  the  Lady  Birds 
and  the  Charters  broke  for  a  Female  smile. 

The  poet  then  sings  the  joys  and  profit  afforded  by  Angling, 
ending  with  the  safe  reflexion, 

Labour  in  vain,  the  Ingenious  do  not  prize. 
Pleasure  that  profit  brings  becomes  the  wise. 

The  Dialogue  between  Piscator  and  Cori/don,^^  which  may 
be  described  as  a  supplement  to  the  Genteel  Recreation,  is  an 
eclogue  with  georgic  reflections  and  moralizations.  Corydon,  a 
herdsman,  and  Piscator,  an  angler,  discuss  their  respective 
pleasures  and  profits.  Corydon  asks  Piscator  to  declare  the 
pleasure,*  that  he  reaps,  and  prevails  on  him  to  spend  a  day  by 
the  riverside.  Phillis,  Chloris,  and  Hobb,  rustic  neighbors, 
appear  and  sing  songs  celebrating  country  joys  and  country 
virtues.  After  Piscator's  departure,  Corydon  recites  the  praises 
of  angling,  ending — 

Though  I'm  no  Angler,  Anglers  still  I'll  love. 
For  Angler's  Patience  comes  from  Mighty  Jove. 

In  1729  Moses  Browne's  Piscatory  Eclogues  appeared.  How 
far  they  are  didactic  in  character  I  cannot  say,  for  I  have  been 
unable  to  see  them.  They  were  reissued  with  other  works  in 
1739  under  the  title  of  Poems  on  various  Subjects,  separately 
in  1773  as  Angling  Sports,  in  Nine  Piscatory  Eclogues.^^ 
Manly  ^*^  mentions  another  halieutic  belonging  to  the  first  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  product  that  appeared  in  1740, 

"Whitney,  op.  cit.,  pp.  59  flF.  ""> D.  N.  B.,  vol.  vn. 

"  Op.  cit. 


158  The  Georgic 

entitled  the  British  Aivgler,  written  by  an  author  named 
Williamson,  whom  I  have  been  unable  to  identify.  If  one 
judges  by  the  specimen  that  Manly  cites  from  the  British  Angler 
it  must  be  pronounced  a  most  unhappy  effort.  The  citation  is 
from  a  discussion  on  silk  and  hair  lines: 

iChoose  well  your  Hair,  and  know  the  vig'rous  Horse, 
Not  only  reigns  in  Beauty,  but  in  Force; 
Reject  the  Hair  of  Beasts,  e'en  newly  dead, 
Where  all  the  springs  of  'Nature  are  deoay'd. 

Perhaps  because  of  lack  of  interest  in  the  subject,  perhaps 
because  of  discouragement  due  to  such  efforts  as  those  of  Browne 
and  Williamson,  English  poets  seem  not  to  have  attempted 
treatises  on  the  gentle  craft  for  two  decades  after  the  appear- 
ance of  the  British  Angler.  Still  the  theme  of  fishing  does  not 
disappear  altogether  from  English  verse;  in  1750  the  Reverend 
John  Buncombe  translated  the  greater  part  of  Vaniere's  treatise 
on  fish-ponds,  the  fifteenth  book  of  the  Praedium  Rusticuni.^^ 
The  translation  may  be  read  in  the  supplement  to  Daniel's  Rural 
Sports.^^ 

These  verses,  Vaniere  remarks  in  a  note,  were  written  in  the 
poet's  earlier  years.  In  the  fashion  of  Pere  Rapin,  whom 
Vaniere  thought  it  praiseworthy  to  imitate,  many  fables  ^^  are 
interwoven  with  the  more  serious  subject  matter.  The  verse  is 
further  adorned  with  constant  moralizations,  but  the  poet  is  not 
so  far  lost  in  morals  and  fables  as  to  neglect  to  instruct  his 
readers  in  the  proper  methods  concerning  the  making  and  the 
management  of  fishponds  and  the  art  of  ensnaring  the  fish. 

^  See  above,  p.  C8.  ''  Op.  cit.,  pp.  35  ff. 

'^  In  the  edition  of  1746,  Book  xv  of  the  Praedium  Rusticum  has  a  de- 
lightful illustration.  A  river  is  represented  flowing  between  a  turreted 
castle  and  a  luige  rock  from  which  the  nymph  Truita  (afterwards  metamor- 
phosed into  the  trout),  is  leaping  madly,  pursued  by  her  cruel  admirer 
Lucius  (afterward  the  pike).  'Below  the  rock  an  unmoved  individual  is 
casting  a  net  into  the  water,  and  under  a  tree  on  the  other  side  of  the 
stream,  are  three  fat,  exulting  cherubs,  one  in  the  act  of  landing  a  large 
fish.  The  cherubs  suggest  the  first  canto  of  M.  Jammes'  Q^orgiques  chrcti- 
ennes  in  which  the  poet  fancies  angels  lun-vesting  in  the  fields  and  hovering 
about  the  farmer's  family  at  their  liousehold  talk.     See  above,  p.  47. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  159 

Discussing  the  sites  for  pouds,  Vaniere  writes  with  the  heart 
of  Vergil's  teaching  well  in  mind, 

Camporum  qui  plana  colit,  licet  aggere  multo 
Vix  bene  eontineat  graviorum  pondus  aquarum 
Nil  desperet;  opum  vis  et  labor  omnia  vincunt  '* 

The  following  quotation  from  Buncombe's  translation  illus- 
trates very  happily  the  poet's  didactic  manner. 

Now  o'er  the  neighb'ring  Streams  extend  your  Nets 

And  throw  your  lines  well  furnished  with  deceits, 

Join  scarlet  Colours,  which  exposed  to  view 

Fish  thro'  the  water  greedily  pursue; 

And  as  a  skillful  Fowler,  Birds  employs, 

Which  by  their  well-known  Voice  and  treacherous  noise, 

Allure  their  Fellows  and  invite  to  sihaie 

Their  fate  entangled  in  the  viscuous  Snare; 

So  Fish  when  taken,  other  Fisb  allure; 

Who,  seeing  them,  grow  daimtless  and  secure ; 

But  not  thro'  studied  Malice  they  ibetray, 

But  by  our  Art  deceive  the  finny  prey, 

(Man  only  with  premeditated  m,ind 

Betrays  his  Brethren  and,  ensnares  Mankind. 

In  1758  the  didactic  Muse  again  raised  her  head  vigorously, 
if  one  may  not  say  triumphantly.  Thomas  Scott  of  Ipswich 
published  a  poem  entitled  The  Art  of  Angling;  Eight  Dialogues 
in  Verse.^^  The  author  acknowledges  the  fountain  of  his 
inspiration  in  his  motto: 

Rura  mihi  et  rigui  placeant  in  vallibus  amnes, 
Flumina  amem,  sylvasque,  inglorius.^ 

In  his  note  to  the  Reader,  the  Bookseller  comments  on  the 
writer's  sagacity  in  choosing  a  subject  pleasing  to  the  ruling 
taste  of  the  age :  ^"^ 

*'Cp.  Georg.  i,  145,  labor  omnia  vicit. 

'^  Reprinted  in  Ruddiman's  Collection  of  Scarce,  Curious  and  Valuable 
Pieces,"  Edinburgh,  1773. 

*  Georg.  n,  485. 

"  At  this  time  and  during  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
interest  in  fishing  literature  seems  to  'have  almost  equalled  the  vogue  of 
gardening  literature  in  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Thomas 
Pike  Lathy  seems  to  have  been  more  eager  than  wise  in  the  manner  in  which 


160  ■     The  Georgic 

The  dialogues  are  furnislied  with  notes  signed  with  the  names 
Zoilus,  Aristarchiis,  Farnaby  the  Younger,  Moses  Browne  and  so 
forth.  Zoilus  comments  thus  on  the  title :  "  How  artfully  has 
this  author  screened  himself  from  our  attacks,  by  giving  to  his 
compositions  the  titles  of  dialogues!  O  that  he  had  called 
them  eclogues !  I  should  then  have  been  furnished  with  a  fair 
occasion  to  display  my  reading  and  my  critical  skill,  by  showing 
that  neither  his  characters  nor  his  sentiments  nor  his  expression 
agree  with  the  simplicity  so  essential  to  that  species  of  Poems." 

The  first  dialog-ue  is  ''  A  Defense  of  Angling."  ^^  The  sc^ne 
is  the  meadows ;  the  season  the  coming  in  of  Spring.  Candidus 
and  Severus  speak. 

Candidus  asks  if  virtue  will  frown  upon  them  if  they  fish 
and  stay  in  these  ''springing  meads."     Severus  replies, 

Virtue,  my  friend,  on  no  enjoyment  smiles 
Which  idle  hours  debase,  or  vice  defiles. 
The  wise  to  life's  momentous  work  attend; 
And  think  and  act  still  pointing  to  their  end. 

Candidus  urges  that  pastimes  are  necessary,  and  compares 
them  to  parentheses  in  verse,  but  remarks  that,  as  in  verse, 
parentheses  too  long  disturb  the  song. 

So  pastimes  which  ingross  too  large  a  space 
Disturb  life's  system  and  its  work  deface. 

Severus  argues  for  sports  that  arouse,  not  waste,  the  spirits. 
Candidus  observes  that  some  prefer  the  chase,  and  digresses  to 
describe  a  hare  hunt,  but  decides  that  each  must  amuse  himself 
according  to  his  taste,  ending, 

I  no  man's  joys  arraign. 
Me,  lonely  vales  and  winding  currents  please, 
And  arts  of  fishing  entertain  my  ease. 


he  tried  to  satisfy  the  public  demand.  In  1819  he  carried  out  one  of  the 
most  amazing  of  literary  frauds,  transferring  bodily  the  Eight  Dialogues 
into  ten  cantos  entitled  The  Anglers  Avith  notes,  etc.,  by  Piscator  (T.  R. 
Lathy,  esq.).  After  a  number  of  copies  were  printed  on  royal  paper,  and 
one  on  vclliun  at  a  cost  of  ten  pounds,  the  fraud  was  discovered  and  pointed 
out  by  Scott's  nephew,  who  was  in  possession  of  the  original  manuscript. 
See  D.  N.  B.,  Vol.  xxxn,  p.  171. 
**  Cp.  John  Dennys'  "  Answer  to  the  Objection." 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  161 

Sevenis  objects  to  the  '*  mire  and  the  sordid  toils  of  jfishing." 
Candidus  explains  that  he  has  nothing  to  do  with  mire,  "  the 
decent  angle's  ''  his.  Severus  objects  to  the  gout-bringing  exhala- 
tions of  the  marsh.  Candidus  answers  that  he  has  sense  enough 
to  be  warned  of  the  approach  of  evening  in  time  to  get  home 
before  the  "brown  horrour  woods  and  streams  invades."  Severus 
remarks  that  he  doesn't  call  angling  exercise.  Candidus  urges 
that  the  skilled  Angler  changes  the  scene,  wanders  from  mead 
to  mead,  "  still  casting  as  he  moves."  He  returns  home  blessedly 
tired,  and  spends  his  evening  in  the  classic  page, 

Or  fancy,  flowing  with  recruited  vein, 

Pours  out  her  pleasures  in  his  rhyming  strain. 

Let  not  my  friend  despise,  with  cynic  mood 

Our  pastime,  honored  by  the  wise  and  good; 

By  blameless  Nowell,  Wotton's  cheerful  age, 

Colton's  clear  wit  and  Walton's  rural  page. 

With  rapture  these  beheld  the  people'd  flood. 

The  chequer'd  meadow  and  the  waving  wood; 

Here  found  in  solitude  emollient  rest 

From  rugged  cares  and  tumults  of  the  breast: 

Here  virtues  learn'd  (ill  learned  by  formal  rules) 

Unknown  to  courts,  unknoAvn  to  wrangling  schools. 

Patience  and  Peace,  and  gentleness  of  mind, 

Contempt  of  wealth  and  love  of  human  kind. 

Severus  is  converted,  but  declares  that  if  he  ever  wields  the 
fisher's  reed,  its  bark  shall  bear  the  maxim, 

All  pastimes  that  engross  too  large  a  space 
Disturb  life's  system  and  its  work  deface. 

Whereat  Zoilus  remarks,  "  O  the  shocking  pride  of  this 
Author !  He  hath  first  the  presumption  to  dignify  a  dry  saying 
of  his  own  with  the  title  of  a  maxim  or  a  moral  axiom,  and  next, 
the  assurance  to  hint  to  the  sellers  of  fishing  tackle  that  he  would 
have  them  get  this  same  law  engraven  on  the  outside  of  every 
fishing  rod  in  their  shops." 

The  second  Dialogue,  between  Tyro  and  Piscator,  treats  of 

some  general  rules  of  the  sport.     The  opening  is  a  description 

of  delaying  spring  and  a  moralization  on  deceived  hopes.     The 

Anglers,  it  appears,  speak  feelingly,  since  they  have  been  so 

11 


162  The  Georgic 

deceived  that  it  is  necessary  to  give  up  their  sport.  Tyro,  how- 
ever, begs  instructions  from  Piscator  before  they  part.  Piscator 
begins  with  the  following  Preface: 

Walton  could  teach;  his  meek,  enchanting  vein 

The  Shepherd's  mingles  with  the  Fisher's  strain; 

Nature  and  genius  animate  his  lines, 

And  our  whole  science  in  his  precepts  shines. 

Howe'er,  to  fill  this  little  void  of  time, 

And  titilate  your  ear  with  jingling  rhyme, 

Receive  in  brief  epitome  the  rules 

Anglers  revere,  the  doctrine  of  their  schools. 

The  rules  follow.    The  verses. 

Your  line,  or  by  the  spinning  worm  supplied 
Or  by  the  high-born  courser's  hairy  pride. 

are  almost  equal  to  Armstrong's  description  of  an  icehouse,  or 
Mason's  of  the  net,  "  the  Sportsman's  hempen  toils."  ^^ 

After  some  precepts  concerning  baits  the  author  discusses  ill- 
omen'd  seasons,  and  weather  signs.'**'  Tyro  asks  one  more 
favor,  "  The  Angler's  Song,"  and  Piscator  obligingly  complies 
with  his  request,  singing  the  praises  of  the  Angler's  life,  far 
from  the  clamor  and  the  sorrow  that  end  the  pleasure  of  the 
drunkard's  bowl,  and  unshadowed  by  the  dangers  that  threaten 
the  hunter's  life.  The  fisher  can  enjoy  the  outdoor  world,  and 
he  can  reflect  "  how  time  is  gliding,"  but  he  refuses  to  mourn 
while  the  present  is  glad.  He  concludes  with  the  courageous 
sentiment. 

Yea,  when  autumn's  russet  mantle 
Saddens  the  decaying  year, 
I  will  fish  and  I  will  chant,  till 
Feeble  age  shall  change  my  cheer. 

The  third  Dialogue,  between  Garrulus  and  Lepidus,  on 
"  Angling  for  Trout,"  is  pastoral  rather  than  georgic.  Musaeus 
envying  Severus'  luck,  decides  to  sit  and  sing  to  the  naiads.  His 
ruse  succeeds ;  the  trout  bite. 

The  fourth  Dialogue,  on  "  Perch,"  is  varied  by  a  short  narra- 

»See  above,  p.  85.  ""Cp.  Oeorg.  i,  351  ff. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  163 

tive  episode ;  then  Lepi Jus  being  asked  to  cheer  tiie  dullness  bj 
the  "  farmer's  song,"  breaks  into  a  satirical  ditty  on  the  severity 
of  the  game  laws,  and  the  damage  done  to  farm  lands  by  the 
hunt.^^  Garrulus  gets  a  fisli,  but  his  comments  are  interrupted 
by  Lepidus,  who  tells  a  fish  tale  that  Zoilus  comments  on  in  the 
notes  as  a  "  romantic  affair,  the  whole  of  which  he  looks  upon 
as  a  '  Swinging  lie.'  "  Lepidus  muses  on  the  varied  characters 
of  fish.'*-  Shock,  the  dog,  blunders  into  the  water  after  a  water 
rat,  and  Lepidus  recalls  the  story  of  a  Dutch  attendant  who  fell 
into  the  water.  Zoilus  comments  severely  on  the  relations  of 
a  preacher  and  laughter.  Further  moralizations  follow  on 
cheating. 

The  fifth  Dialogue,  on  the  "  Carp,"  begins  w^ith  a  conversa- 
tion on  the  innocent  pleasure  and  beauty  of  a  country  walk 

The  next  lines  illustrate  the  georgic  note  of  complaint  against 

the  evils  of  the  time,  and  show  again  that  poets  of  the  georgic 

strain    wrote    insecure    of    audience    even    in    the    eighteenth 

century : 

Who  sings  of  virtue  in  these  iron  times. 
Sings  to  the  wind,  for  ears  endure  the  rhymes, 
But  fame  and  wealth  reward  the  glorious  toil, 
Scrawl  but  a  novel  or  write  notes  on  Hoyle.** 

Lepidus  makes  an  answer  that  illustrates  the  georgic  feature  of 
references  to  famous  men,  and  shows  the  writer's  common  sense, 
if  not  his  poetical  ability — 

Lash  not  the  times  alone,  withal  complain 

Of  bards  unequal  to  the  lofty  strain 

The  heavenly  fire  once  warmed  in  Addison. 

A  preceptual  note  is  introduced  in  Lucius'  advice  to  Verus,  to 
turn  from  the  sun,  lest  his  shadow  frighten  the  carp.  The  carp 
having  been  caught,  Verus  urges  rest  and  conversation.  Lucius 
suggests  Greenland  as  the  scene,  thus  introducing  the  familiar 

*^  Cp.  Somerville,  Gay  and  Shenstone.    See  above,  p.  126. 
*  A  georgic  touch.    Cp.  Vergil  on  vines.    Georg.  u,  91-109. 
**  Zoilus  comments  that  the  author  speaks  feelingly,  as  if  from  personal 
experience  of  rejected  mss.  or  unsold  copies. 


164  The  Georgic 

device  of  contrast  witli  foreign  country.  Verus  describes  whale 
fishing.  Lucius  then  bursts  into  a  panegyric  on  Britain,  which 
Verus  thinks  overdone  at  the  present  moment,  as  he  regrets  the 
loss  of  Minorca,  and  sighs  for  a  race  of  honest  men  not  to  be 
corrupted  by  bribes  and  party  sentiment. 

Lucius  notes  the  mounting  of  the  sun  and  philosophizes  on 
the  quick  passing  of  life,  the  small  pittance  of  time  worth  while, 
the  necessity  of  spending  that  time  well. 

The  sixth  Dialogue,  between  Axylus  and  Musaeus,  is  mainly 
in  praise  of  the  value  of  the  gentle  exercise  of  Angling,  in  which 
the  sportsman  breaks  no  laws.  Commenting  on  the  fishes' 
enemy,  the  otter,  a  hunt  is  described,  and  the  poet  moralizes 
on  the  necessity  of  hunting  human  tyrants,  otters  that  prey  upon 
their  fellow  men. 

Dialogue  eighth,  between  Axylus  and  Musseus,  treats  of  trawl- 
ing for  Pike.  The  manner  of  catching  a  Pike  is  described,  also 
the  manner  in  which  Serena  prepares  it  with  "  the  churn's  golden 
lumps  of  clodded  oil." 

Axylus  asks  information  concerning  the  origin  of  fishing. 
Musseus  responds: 

Walton,  our  great  forefather  and  our  pride, 

The  curious  search  with  happy  labour  try'd; 

He  found  our  ward  in  wild  Arabia  nurst. 

And  patient  Job  great  fisherman  the  first. 

But  brains  of  scholars  are  inventive  things; 

Read  Monmouth's  Geoffrey,  read  Buchanan's  Kings. 

Yet  if  the  Muse's  wreath  bestows  renown 

Is  not  our  name  immortalized  by  Browne. 

Thinking  of  Vergil,  Chiron  observes : 

Nature,  my  friends,  whose  certain  signs  ordain 
The  time  to  scatter  and  to  reap  the  grain. 
Governs  our  ant. 

Advice  follows  concerning  the  time  to  fish,  the  seasons  being 
marked  by  the  constellations. 

The  three  anglers  continue  to  fish  and  converse  by  turns. 
They  discuss  the  instincts  of  fish,  and  the  question  of  whether  or 
not  the  fishes  hear.    ]\rus£eus  digi'csses  to  tell  the  story  of  a  carp 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  165 

that  came  at  the  call  of  a  Monk  of  St.  Bernard  on  the  banks  of 
the  Scheldt,  and  rings  in  a  satirical  passage  on  luxury  and  super- 
stition.    Musaeus  remarks, 

Good. cheer  will  mount  me  to  Apollo's  steep. 

An  observation  that  causes  Zoilus  to  comment  on  Musaeus'  in- 
sufferable arrogance  and  to  name  among  those  who  have  climbed 
Parnassus,  Flatman,  Tom  D'Urfy,  Taylor  the  Water  Poet,  and 
a  few  others  needless  to  mention. 

The  eighth  Dialogue,  on  "  Fishing  for  Pike  with  Lay  Hooks," 
is  particularly  notable  for  its  descriptions  of  nature.  These 
optimistic  sportsmen  have  praises  even  for  winter.  The  Anglers 
congratulate  themselves  on  the  superior  qualities  of  their  joys, 
and  finally  they  "  descend  from  Pegasus  and  retire  to  share 
their  frugal  viand." 

The  Art  of  Angling  might  be  described  as  reading  neither 
unpleasant  nor  unprofitable.  The  notes,  presumably  the 
author's,  are  amusingly  facetious.  The  verse,  in  general,  flows 
smoothly.  The  writer  appears  not  to  regard  very  seriously 
either  his  theme  or  his  own  poetic  powers,  so  the  whole  poem 
is  leavened  by  a  vein  of  humorous  common  sense.  The  work  is 
interesting  as  a  specimen  of  the  eclogue  used  for  didactic  pur- 
poses. It  can  hardly  be  called  a  masterpiece  even  of  fishing 
literature,  but  it  is  a  work  that  every  reader  who  loves  the  gentle 
craft  would  gladly  have  on  the  shelves  of  his  library. 

5.    Nineteenth-Century  Didactic  Poems  on  Angling 

In  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  John  Dennys 
was  still  read;  and  in  his  native  land,  the  tribute  of  English 
verse  was  still  being  spent  on  the  theme  first  honored  by  him 
with  such  a  tribute.  But  thru  a  curious  bit  of  irony,  Charles 
Clifford,  who  read  the  Secrets  and  wrote  the  Angler,  a  Didactic 
Poem,**  has  in  the  opinion  of  later  critics  immortalized  himself, 

**  London,  1804.  For  my  knowledge  of  this  rare  book,  I  am  indebted  to 
the  kindness  of  Mr.  Hyder  E.  Rollins,  who  read  it  for  me  at  Harvard. 


166  The  Georgic 

not  by  his  own  production^  but  by  tbe  expression  of  his  contempt 
for  the  Secrets^^ 

The  1804  edition  of  The  Angler  leaves  the  reader  under  the 
impression  that  the  writer  may  have  left  his  work  uncompleted. 
The  volume  contains  four  hundred  and  ninety  lines  of  blank 
verse  headed  Book  I,  and  followed  by  the  information  "  End 
of  Book  I." 

In  the  "  Advertisement "  prefixed  to  the  poem,  the  author 
voices  the  sentiment  of  John  Basse  in  The  Angler  s  So7ig:  ^^ 

I  care  not,  I,  t^  fish  in  seas — 

Eresh  rivers  most  my  mind  do  please. 

Clifford,  however,  expresses  himself  in  the  manner  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  His  words  are  worth  quoting,  chiefly 
because  they  prove  that  he  was  acquainted  with  Oppian's 
Halieutica,  but  that  he  disdains  to  sing  the  song  of  the  Cilician. 
Thus  the  English  author  writes :  "  The  plan  of  Oppian  confines 
him  to  sing  of  fishing  on  the  mciin  seas,  as  they  are  styled,  or 
rather  to  the  enumeration  of  various  species  of  Eish  which 
sojourn  there,  their  habits,  their  amours,  and  modes  of  preying, 
both  true  and  fabulous.  The  following  work  leaves  these 
subjects  wholly  untouched.  ...  In  the  meantime  the  author 
•  confines  himself  entirely  to  the  pursuits  of  the  true  and  legiti- 
mate Angler,  who  with  taper  rod  and  dancing  hook,  gaudily 
fashioned  like  a  giddy  fly,  exerts  all  his  dexterity  in  beguiling 
the  nobler  inmates  of  the  stream,  the  trout  and  salmon." 

Altho  he  scorned  the  plan  of  Oppian,  Clifford  evidently  avails 
himself  to  some  extent  of  the  model  of  the  Georgics.  His  poem 
begins  with  the  stock  opening,  a  statement  of  the  subject,  after 
which  he  offers  a  defense  of  Angling  from  the  Imputation  of 
Cruelty.  To  poetize  his  subject,  he  alternates  his  practical 
instructions  with  digressions.  He  introduces  the  subject  of 
foreign  lands  in  an  account  of  the  scenery  and  people  of  Green- 
land.   This  theme  may  have  been  suggested  to  him  by  Thomas 

**  See  the  "  Advertisement "  to  Clifford's  Angler,  p.  iv. 

*'Old  English  Sovgs,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York,  1894,  p.  30. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  167 

Scott's  account  of  whale  fishing;  ^'^  but  Clifford  develops  the 
theme  very  differently^  dwelling,  like  Ilesiod  and  Vergil  and 
Thomson,  on  the  distinctive  features  of  the  northern  winter, 
altho  he  seems  not  to  have  borrowed  anything  more  than  the 
subject  from  the  older  poets. 

iSTo  actual  hatred  of  human  warfare  appears  to  be  expressed 
in  The  Angler,  but  one  might  imply  that  the  author  finds  the 
struggle  with  the  "  finny  tribe  ''  more  to  his  liking  than  an 
encounter  on  the  field  of  battle,  for  his  Muse  sings — 

Of  contests  keen,  not  bloodless — victories 
Not  without  ambush,  or  manoeuvred  skill. 
The  warfare  'gainst  the  finny  tribe  she  sings; 
When  with  the  mellow  morn  the  accoutred  angler 
Hies  to  the  limpid  brook  or  broader  flood, 
To  wage  the  contest  with  the  heedless  trout 
Or  floundering  salmon. 

Clifford  refers  occasionally  to  well-known  writers,  to  famous 
heroes  and  to  mythological  stories;  and  he  digresses  frequently 
to  describe  natural  objects. 

In  the  conclusion  of  his  description  of  Greenland  he  points 
out  the  love  of  each  individual  for  his  native  land,  developing 
with  some  skill  the  generous  sentiment  Mr.  Knight  expresses  in 
The  Landscape : 

No  state  or  clime's  so  bad  but  that  the  mind 
Formed  to  enjoy  content,  content  will  find.** 

Mr.  Clifford's  lines,  which  have  a  decided  Thomsonian  ring,  are 

as  follows : 

Oh,  bounteous  Nature,  falsely  oft  accused 

Of  partial  kindness! — Midst  the  dreary  waste 

An  airy  palace  gay  thou  rear'st  in  lieu 

Of  sculptured  domes; — for  summer  suns  thou  giv'st 

A  midnight  radiance;  and  tho  bleak  the  clime 

And  desolate  the  shore,  yet  o'er  the  wilds 

Roams  a  free  tenant,  imannoyed  by  care. 

And  prizing  more  his  rocks  and  fishy  shores 

Than  slavish  Indians  prize  the  spicy  grove, 

The  golden  streamlet,  flower-empurpled  field 

And  all  the  riches  of  their  gem-fraught  soil. 


*'  See  above,  p.  103.  *  See  above,  p.  99. 


168  The  Georgic 

Considered  as  a  halieutic  The  Angler  is  a  poem  not  without 
merit.  The  author  shows  a  real  love  of  N'ature,  and  his  descrip- 
tive lines  are  occasionally  rich  in  color  effect.  But  Clifford's 
verses  can  bear  no  comparison  with  the  Secrets  of  Angling.  The 
later  poem  lacks  entirely  the  flowing  sweetness  of  John  Dennys' 
stanzas.  There  is  nothing  in  it  of  the  almost  childlike  delight 
of  the  earlier  poet  in  the  outdoor  world.  One  does  not  find  in 
Clifford  the  naively  pleasant  quality  that  makes  delightful  John 
Whitney's  imperfect  verse,  nor  is  there  in  The  Angler  the 
amusingly  sententious  manner  that  marks  the  Dialogues  of  John 
Scott.  Critics  have  expressed  some  wonder  that  John  Dennys 
was  willing  to  devote  so  much  poetic  talent  to  the  theme  of 
Angling.  If  one  may  judge  from  his  verse  and  from  the  history 
of  the  publication  of  the  Secrets,  John  Dennys  would  have  been 
utterly  surprised  at  this  wonder ;  but  the  reader  gathers  from 
Clifford's  Advertisement  as  well  as  from  his  verse  that  he  felt 
that  it  was  condescension  on  his  part  to  give  his  production  to 
the  angling  world. 

How  many  other  writers  after  Clifford  may  have  experi- 
mented with  the  svibject  of  fishing,  in  didactic  verse,  I  cannot 
say.  The  most  notorious  effort  to  satisfy  the  public's  interest 
in  the  theme  of  Angling  was  the  fraud  of  Thomas  Pike  Lathy,^^ 
whose  bold  theft  of  Thomas  Scott's  work  is  an  interesting  illus- 
tration of  the  truth  of  the  remark,  "  !No  class  of  books  is  so 
eagerly  bought  up  as  those  relating  to  fish  and  fishing — none 
sooner  go  out  of  print."  ^^ 

Lathy's  stolen  verses  were  printed  in  1819.  After  that  I 
know  of  no  attempt  at  a  didactic  on  the  fisher's  art  except  a 
lengthy  poem  on  "  Trolling,"  published  in  1839,  in  W.  Watt's 
Remarks  on  Shooting  in  Verse.  Manly,^^  to  whom  I  am 
indebted  for  my  slight  knowledge  of  this  composition,  remarks 
of  the  author  that  "  he  seems  to  be  one  of  that  class  of  writers 
who  have  an  idea  that  anything  which  rhymes  is  poetry,  and 

*»  See  above,  p.  159,  n.  37. 

"  See  "  The  Angler's  Library,"  op.  cif.,  p.  155. 

^'Op.  cit.,  p.  668. 


Didactic  Poems  on  Field  Sports  169 

though  his  description  of  the  tackle  aud  the  way  of  using  it 
in  this  branch  of  angling  is  correct  enough,  the  poem  is  hardly 
worth  reading." 

The  story  of  the  halieutic  can  not  be  said  to  work  up  to  a 
climax;  but  it  makes  a  very  pleasant  and  a  very  interesting 
chapter  in  a  study  of  the  developments  of  georgic  poetry. 
One  curious  feature  in  the  history  of  the  halieutic  is  its 
apparently  rare  occurrence  in  French  and  Italian  literature. 
Tiraboschi  ^^  mentions  a  Halieutica  written  by  Nicolo  Par- 
tenio  Giannettasio  in  1689,  but  I  know  nothing  whatever  of  the 
character  of  the  work.  Vaniere  wrote  of  Fishing  in  his 
Stagna;  ^^  whether  in  his  poem  on  Agriculture  de  Rosset  treats 
of  the  fisherman's  art  while  discussing  the  subject  of  fish- 
ponds ^*  I  cannot  say. 

In  English  poetry  the  halieutic  is  a  much  more  frequent  type 
than  the  cynegetic.  Certainly  an  unprejudiced  reader  finds 
much  more  pleasure  in  the  pages  of  the  halieutic  than  in  the 
pages  of  the  cynegetic  poets.  The  pursuit  of  angling  by  no 
means  makes  of  its  followers  great  writers,  but  it  is  a  pursuit 
whose  wholesome  character  is  generally  reflected  in  the  pages 
of  those  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  celebrating  the  fisher- 
man's art.  If  there  is  plenty  of  doggerel  to  be  found  in  the 
compositions  on  angling,  there  is  also  much  really  charming 
verse.  The  joys  of  early  morning,  the  spirit  of  meditation 
begotten  by  sky  and  wood  and  water  are  not  things  to  be  scorned. 
The  poets  of  the  gentle  craft  have  made  little  pretense  to  preach 
the  doctrine  of  constant  labor,  but  they  have  proved  the  whole- 
someuess  of  their  recreation,  which  needs  no  abler  defense  than 
John  Dennys'  "  Reply  to  the  Objection."  The  objection  to  the 
wasted  energy  in  a  study  of  the  didactic  poem  on  the  fisherman's 
art  needs  no  better  defense  than  a  reading  of  John  Dennys' 
Secrets  of  Angling. 


Op.  cit.  "See  above,  p.  158. 

'  See  above,  p.  68. 


170  The  Georgic 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Conclusion. 

In  this  study  I  have  attempted  first  to  define  the  georgic  as 
a  literary  type,  and  to  show  that  as  a  type  it  is  clearly  distinct 
from  the  pastoral,  altho  closely  related  to  it ;  secondly,  to  sketch 
in  outline  the  general  history  of  the  georgic,  to  give  some  idea 
of  the  variations  in  the  development  of  the  type,  and  to  classify 
these  variations;  thirdly,  to  treat  in  detail  as  fully  as  possible 
English  georgics  on  general  ag"riculture,  on  gardening,  and  on 
field  sports,  and  to  discuss,  also,  to  some  extent  French  and 
Italian  didactic  poems  on  these  themes.  In  studying  the  indi- 
vidual developments  of  the  georgic  type,  I  have  tried  to  consider 
them  in  relation  to  the  other  compositions  included  in  the  same 
group,  to  show  in  how  far  they  are  Vergilian  in  spirit  and  in 
form,  and  in  how  far  they  are  of  value  as  reflections  of  the 
literary  influences  or  of  the  temper  of  the  time. 

The  georgic  as  a  genre  cannot  be  disregarded.  It  persists 
clear-cut,  unmistakable  in  its  leading  features,  thru  all  its 
phases,  from  the  serious  didactic  treatment  purely  of  field  work, 
such  as  Alamanni's  Coltivazione,  to  the  burlesque  imitation 
with  its  background  of  city  streets  exemplified  in  Gay's  Trivia. 
In  general,  except  for  the  rural  setting  and  the  occasional 
appearance  of  the  shepherd  on  the  scene,  the  georgic  holds 
clearly  apart  from  the  pastoral.  Occasionally  the  types  cross. 
For  example,  Bloomfield's  Farmers  Boy  (p.  45,  n.  69)  has 
been  said  to  be  the  most  truly  Theocritean  piece  in  the  English 
language,  but  it  is  a  poem  that  has  the  realistic  qualities  of  the 
georgic,  and  that  illustrates  the  georgic  features  of  digressions 
arising  from  the  theme,  altho  it  does  not  deal  with  rules  of 
practice,  nor  with  the  science  of  agriculture.  John  Whitney's 
Dialogue  between  Piscator  and  Corydon  is  a  pastoral  of  mixed 


Conclusion  171 

character,  exemplifying  certain  conventions  of  the  georgic 
(p.  157). 

The  story  of  the  georgic  begins  about  the  eighth  century 
B.  C.  with  the  Works  and  Days  of  Hesiod,  and  ends  in  the 
twentieth  century  A.  D.  with  the  Georgiques  chretiennes  of 
Francis  Jammes  (p.  46),  A  long  story,  but  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  discover,  there  are  breaks  in  it  of  centuries  at  a 
time.  From  Vergil,  who  imitated  the  subject  matter  of  Hesiod's 
Works  and  Days,  and  created  the  literary  type  of  the  georgic, 
to  Gioviano  Pontano,  who  wrote  the  Garden  of  the  Ilesperides, 
or  the  Culture  of  the  Citron  just  before  1500,  there  can  hardly 
be  averaged  a  georgic  a  century,  and  of  these  not  one  is  both 
georgic  in  subject  matter  and  Vergilian  in  plan.  However,  the 
georgic,  like  the  pastoral,  altho  in  lesser  degree,  has  had  its 
periods  of  vogue  due  to  the  circumstances  or  to  the  temper  of 
the  time.    But  these  periods  of  favor  lie  far  apart. 

Until  the  sixteenth  century  I  have  found  no  new  develop- 
ments in  the  georgic  type  except  Columellas'  hexameters  on 
gardens  (p.  75),  the  poems  on  field  sports  represented  by  the 
Cynegetica  and  the  Halieuiica,  the  poems  of  Gratius  and  !N^eme- 
sianus  and  Oppian,  and  the  didactic  works  on  Falconry  and  on 
the  chase  of  the  stag  found  in  mediseval  France  (pp.  110  ff.). 
That  the  subject  of  fishing  was  one  of  interest  in  the  days  of 
Oppian  of  Cilicia  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  the  Halieu- 
tica  was  publicly  recited  at  Rome  in  the  presence  of  the  Emperor 
Severus  and  his  family.  The  mediseval  didactics  on  the  chase 
were  probably  due  to  the  interest  of  the  great  baronial  lords  in 
that  subject. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  in  Italy,  several  new  developments 
occur  in  the  history  of  the  georgic.  Pontano's  Garden  of  the 
Hesperides  was  written  before  1500.  After  that,  not  only  are 
there  new  poems  on  agriculture  and  on  the  chase,  but  there  are 
Vergilian  didactics  on  bees,  on  silkworms,  on  navigation,  even 
on  the  rearing  of  children  (p.  31).  And  in  Germany,  Thomas 
Kirchmayer's  Agricultura  Sacra  represents  a  curious  adapta- 
tion of  georgic  conventions  to  a  religious  theme,  like  the  similar 


172  The  Georgic 

adaptations  of  pastoral  conventions  found  in  the  fourth  or  fifth 
century  (p.  38).  These  sixteenth-century  productions  are  due 
chiefly  to  the  fact  that  at  this  period  in  Europe,  particularly  in 
Italy,  any  imitation  of  the  classics  was  regarded  as  worthy  of 
praise. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  the  georgic  almost  disappears;  a 
few  angling  poems  (p.  32),  Pere  Rapin's  Horti  and  another 
Latin  poem  on  gardens  seem  the  sole  representatives  of  the  type. 
In  the  eighteenth  century  not  only  were  Vergil's  didactics  read, 
translated  and  imitated,  but  everything  else  in  the  nature  of  a 
georgic  was  brought  out  of  the  past,  translated,  imitated,  or 
reimprinted.  John  Phillips'  Cyder  and  Thomson's  Seasons 
appear  to  have  given  the  impulse  to  the  fashion  (p.  35).  Thru 
their  interest  in  Thomson,  the  French,  usually  averse  to  didactic 
poetry  of  any  kind,  begin  to  see  the  world  of  nature  with  new 
eyes,  and  finally  experiment  with  georgic  verse  on  various 
themes.  Possibly  thru  English  influence,  Italian  interest  in  a 
type  of  poetry  created  on  English  soil  is  once  more  revived.  In 
England,  in  France,  and  in  Italy  almost  every  development  of 
the  genre  occurs,  from  general  agricultural  treatises  to  the  serio- 
comic burlesque  with  a  background  of  city  streets.  So  the 
georgic  type  of  poetry  appears  to  have  passed  in  a  circular 
fashion  from  Italy  to  England,  and  back  again  from  England 
to  Italy,  travelling  along  with  the  eighteenth-century  love  of 
nature  and  English  gardens  and  all  other  things  romantic.^ 

A  study  of  the  georgic  often  seems  to  lead  thru  endless  wastes 
of  dreary  reading.  The  genre  of  the  Yergilian  didactic  is  an 
outworn  fashion.  Francis  Jammes,  it  is  true,  was  bold  enough  to 
entitle  a  book  of  poems  Les  Georgiques  clireUenncs,  but  he 
follows  Vergil's  conventions  only  in  part.  Modern  readers 
regard  the  eighteenth-century  popularity  of  the  georgic  as  an 
added  proof  that  there  was  little  poetry  in  the  neo-classic  age; 

^  The  history  of  the  eighteenth  century  peorgic  is  curiously  analogous 
to  the  story  of  the  word  romantic,  which  was  first  used  in  England,  then 
introduced  from  England  into  France  and  Italy  and  Germany  where  it 
acquired  a  new  and  important  meaning  with  which  it  was  brought  back 
again  to  England. 


Conclusion  173 

as  a  curious  phenomenon  of  literary  taste  that  can  be  explained 
only  by  the  assumption  that  the  period  was  one  curiously  lacking 
both  in  a  sense  of  artistic  fitness  and  in  a  sense  of  humor. 

The  georgic  as  a  poetic  type  appealed  strongly  to  the 
Augustan  age.  Shenstone  was  only  voicing  the  general  senti- 
ment when  he  wrote  in  his  Prefatory  Essay  on  Elegy  that 
"  Poetry  without  moralizing  is  but  the  blossom  of  a  fruit  tree." 
Tn  the  early  years  of  the  century  a  new  school  was  growing  up 
side  by  side  with  Pope  and  his  followers,  a  group  of  poets  with  a 
more  or  less  developed  love  of  the  woods  and  fields,  men  who 
were  tired  of  the  town  and  the  literature  of  polite  conversation, 
ready  to  revolt  against  them,  and  almost  ready  to  revolt  against 
talk  of  reason  and  morals  and  intelligence.  The  habit  of  moral- 
izing was  deep  rooted  in  the  British  temperament,  and  the 
fashion  of  imitating  the  classics  had  become  second  nature. 
Vergil's  Georgics  offered  all  the  qualities  that  appealed  to  eigh- 
teenth-century lovers  of  nature ;  it  was  a  classic,  a  literary  model 
perfected  by  a  great  artist.  Each  of  Vergil's  Georgics  is  a  mas- 
terpiece. What  one  man  can  do  why  not  another?  But  the 
way  of  the  georgic  is  perilous.  The  Mantuan's  name  became  a 
light  leading  thru  deserts.  Huchon  does  not  exaggerate  when 
he  classes  Vergil  "  mal  compris,"  as  among  the  most  pernicious 
influences  of  the  eighteenth  century.^  A  great  poet  can  take  the 
substance  from  the  milk  and  water  of  a  lesser  writer  and  make 
it  virile.  Much  more  easily  a  lesser  poet  can  attempt  to  imitate 
a  great  poet  and  produce  something  worse  than  milk  and  water. 
Especially  easy  is  it  for  an  English  poet  to  fail  when  he  takes  a 
Latin  poem  for  his  model.  The  English  and  the  Latin  tongues 
are  essentially  different.  An  English  poem  lives  only  when  it 
is  English.  Vergil's  diction  becomes  inflated  bombast  when 
unskilled  writers  try  to  use  it.  Milton  succeeded  in  imitating 
Latin  construction  and  expression  only  because  he  was,  like 
Vergil,  a  genius,  and  a  master  of  harmonies.     John  Phillips 

'Ren6  Huchon,  Un  poite  r^aliste  anglais:  George  Crabbe,  noffiSSB. 
Paris,  1906,  p.  149.  But  the  French  critic  carries  his  point  fur  when  he 
classes  Crabbe's  Library  as  "a  degenerate  son  of  the  Oeorgics."  The 
Library  is  a  didactic,  but  it  is  not  of  the  georgic  type. 


174  The  Georgic 

attempting  to  imitate  Vergil  and  Milton  wrote  an  interesting 
poem  that  is  generally  neglected.  Phillips'  poem  is  interesting 
partly  because  the  poet  writes  with  accurate  knowledge  of  his 
subject,  partly  because  he  saves  himself  to  a  certain  extent  by  a 
sense  of  himior.  He  made  a  strong  appeal  to  a  classic-loving 
age.  Thomson,  who  was  a  born  poet,  altho  not  a  great  genius, 
succumbed  to  the  appeal.  Vergil  and  Phillips  helped  to  inspire 
some  of  the  worst  lines  that  the  Scotch  poet  wrote.  Studied 
line  for  line  in  Otto  Zeppel's  variorum  edition  of  the  Seasons,^ 
the  effect  of  the  Vergilian  influence  can  he  seen  in  all  its  disas- 
trous power.  When  Thomson  confines  himself  to  the  use  of 
simple  Anglo-Saxon  words  he  frequently  writes  lines  of  haunt- 
ing melody,  and  he  himself  confesses  that  he  owes  what  is  best 
in  his  poetry  to  his  early  love  for  Spenser.  But  in  an  age  when 
it  was  considered  praiseworthy  to  imitate  not  only  the  form,  but 
also  the  expression  of  the  classics,  Thomson  was  encouraged  to 
continue  on  an  evil  way.  And  the  influence  of  Thomson,  almost 
as  powerful  on  the  continent  as  in  England,  lasted  for  more 
than  a  hundred  years.  Had  the  Scotch  poet  refrained  from 
writing  with  "  the  page  of  Vergil  literally  open  before  him," 
there  might  be  another  chapter  in  the  history  of  English  litera- 
ture. 

But  speculations  are  idle.  The  fact  remains  that  for  all  its. 
difficulties  the  georgic  persisted,  and  that  if  among  the  develop- 
ments of  the  type  there  are  many  failures,  there  are  also  a  few 
poems  of  enduring  charm,  such  as  Tansillo's  Podere,  John 
Denys'  Secrets  of  Angling,  many  passages  of  Thomson's  Seasons 
and  the  Primi  Poeinetti  of  Griovanni  Pascoli.  The  type  may  in 
general  have  failed  to  justify  itself  artistically,  but  it  is  of 
importance  in  literary  history.  It  has  been  said  that  in  Hesiod's 
Works  and  Dlays  there  is  the  reverse  of  Homer's  picture  of 
ancient  Greek  social  life.  Vergil's  Georgics  are  regarded  as  the 
most  artistically  perfect  work  of  Latin  antiquity.  Reading 
them  one  cannot  fail  to  learn  much  of  Vergil's  Italy.  Alamanni'a 
CoUivazione  is  of  great  importance  in  the  literary  development 

'  Palaestra,  lxvi. 


Conclusion  175 

of  the  Florentine  tongue  and  in  the  history  of  Italian  blank 
verse.  Eighteeuth-centiirv  georgics  on  gardening  illustrate  the 
germ  of  one  of  the  most  prominent  ideas  in  the  famous  quarrel 
between  classicists  and  romanticists,  and  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  Abbe  Delille  (p.  34;  pp.  88  ff.),  who  spent  so  much 
time  and  enthusiasm  in  the  translation  and  in  the  imitation  of 
Vergil's  Georgics,  was  regarded  by  the  foremost  literary  critics 
of  France  as  among  the  greatest  writers  of  his  day,  a  poet  so 
beloved  that  at  his  death  all  France  mourned.  ^ 

Xo  study  of  the  eighteenth  century,  particularly  in  England, 
can  be  complete  without  a  knowledge  of  the  georgic.  Thru  it 
the  student  gets  at  the  heart  of  eighteenth-century  tastes  and 
ideas,  and  in  this  respect  the  type  is  hardly  less  important  than 
the  eighteenth-century  novel. 

In  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  fashion  of 
the  georgic  began  to  decline.  Inevitably  it  was  a  fashion  that 
could  not  continue;  even  in  the  eighteenth  century  one  hears 
poets  such  as  Mason  and  Cowper  doubtful  of  popular  applause 
when  their  subject  is  didactic  (pp.  87,  95).  Miss  Lowell  says 
that  it  must  be  confessed  that  Francis  Jammes'  Georgiques 
chreiiennes  are  "  a  little  tedious,"  and  Jammes  does  not  attempt 
the  most  difficult  features  of  the  georgic.  However,  his  book  is 
a  work  crowned  by  the  French  Academy,  and  since  its  publica- 
tion in  1912  it  has  passed  thru  five  editions.  There  is  in  it  a 
little  of  the  charm  of  Goldsmith's  Deserted  Village,  with  some- 
thing of  Vergil's  understanding  of  the  Italian  rustic ;  and  prob- 
ably the  religious  character  of  the  book  has  helped  to  insure  its 
success.  Like  Vergil,  Jammes  laments  the  desertion  of  the 
fields ;  in  raising  his  voice  against  the  evil?  of  the  religious 
proscriptions  in  France,  he  adds  a  new  variety  to  the  present 
day  ills  that  writers  of  georgics  have  been  rehearsing  since 
Hesiod's  time. 

The  Georgiqiies  chretiennes  are  an  interesting  illustration  of 
the  revival  of  outworn  conventions  after  a  long  period  of  neglect, 
a  proof  that  the  old  themes  live  eternally,  and  that  altho  the 
world  today  represents  new  developments,  it  is  still  the  same 
as  the  world  of  yesterday. 


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